John Henry lets his inner bookworm out, will invest in the Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store owners Jeff Mayersohn and Linda Seamonson told customers today that Red Sox and Globe owner John Henry "will be making a series of investments" in the Harvard Square institution.

Needless to say, we are very excited about this partnership, which will be transformative for our business.

John originally reached out to us during a very low point in the pandemic, having read about the financial challenges our store was facing, and offered to help. While over the last few months our financial situation has improved - thanks to our customers, our marvelous staff, our landlords Harvard Real Estate, and some very generous government programs - the long-term sustainability of Harvard Book Store remained uncertain. And so, our conversations with John have evolved from simply preserving the business in the short-term, to developing a vision for how we might work together to better serve our community of readers and writers for decades to come.

In the immediate future, we will embark on a series of renovation projects for our store at 1256 Mass Ave in Cambridge and enhancements to the browsing and e-commerce experience at harvard.com. All of these will make Harvard Book Store a better place to work and a better place to shop. Beyond these immediate projects, we are developing other plans, all in very early stages, that will serve the literary community in exciting ways. We look forward to sharing more with you as these projects progress.

They added that John and Lina Henry are not only committed to the Boston area but to independent bookstores. The two " are insistent that Harvard Book Store maintain its indie identity, which has defined it for almost ninety years."

H/t Derek.