Curious George Store owner starts petition to save the shop
The iconic Harvard Square store's building is set to be redeveloped.
The World’s Only Curious George Store is not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Last week, New York real estate investment trust Equity One — the owners of “The Harvard Collection,” the building that includes the Curious George Store — announced their plans to redevelop the iconic Harvard Square building. Along with placing a two-story glass addition and roof deck on top of the current building, Equity One intends to replace the Curious George Store with a stairwell and elevator, thereby shutting the store’s doors.
Store owner Adam Hirsch and his Curious George team have since created a change.org petition, which they released Thursday, aiming to show Harvard Square influencers just how much people care about the store. As of this article’s publication, the petition had received 508 signatures of support. Hirsch hopes to gather 5,000.
“We have a long ways to go,” Hirsch told Boston.com. “The comments are phenomenal and unbelievably supportive.”
He added that the store is not in immediate danger of closing.
“A lot of people, after reading the articles, think we are going out of business tomorrow, which we aren’t,” Hirsch said. “It’s a good year a way that we are in jeopardy.”
The Curious George Store owner Adam Hirsch at the Cambridge store.
Hirsch said the petition’s goal is about the weight that a large number of signatures carries.
“If we could quantify the love and support that we think we enjoy locally as well as nationally and internationally,” he said, “we think that will send a powerful message to show a lot of the influencers of Harvard Square.”
On September 9, The Harvard Crimson reported that the Cambridge Historical Commission voted to delay debate on Equity One’s proposal to remodel, but that the investment trust plans to petition the City Planning Board. If approved, Equity One would like to begin construction in 2018.
The next Historical Commission meeting will be on October 6. Hirsch said he thinks that meeting will also have a good turnout.
“There are people that feel very strongly regarding the plans,” he said. “I need to focus my energy on the store, but a lot of people feel that the look and feel of the buildout and the increased density should be consistent with the Square. It is something everyone will have to live with. What should that be? Those are really interesting and complex questions.”
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