Iconic Harvard Book Store turns a new page

"I can't remember the first time I entered the store, because it just seems like a part of my life now. I always walked out with five books, and left 10 behind that I really wanted." - Jeff Mayersohn, new Harvard Book Store owner (Globe Staff Photo / Wendy Maeda)

A voracious reader and zealous book collector, Jeff Mayersohn always harbored the fantasy of retiring from his hectic high-tech career and owning a bookstore.

"The one I had in mind was small and quiet," said the 57-year-old who enjoys literary genres from classic and contemporary fiction to philosophy and physics.

He never imagined the store he would acquire along with his wife, Linda Seamonson, would be the Harvard Book Store - an iconic Cambridge cornerstone that Mayersohn considered a sort of second home as a Harvard undergraduate in the early '70s.

On Sept. 30, Mayersohn took the torch from former owner Frank Kramer, whose father opened the store in 1932. This exchange marked the end of the business as family-run, and put Mayersohn under the scrutiny of the store's score of loyal customers who treasure its longevity and enduring dynamic amid the oft-despised homogenization of Harvard Square.

"I want to reassure customers that I love it as much as they do," said Mayersohn at the bookstore offices on Friday, where he is learning under Kramer's tutelage. "I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility and excitement."

Kramer, 67, said he has mixed feelings about leaving.

"It's difficult to go, but after 46 years, I want to try something different," he said. "I feel extremely lucky that we found the perfect guy and family. If anyone can do this well, it's going to be him."

For Mayersohn, the acquisition of a bookstore was a long time coming.

As a child of first-generation American parents growing up in the Bronx apartment projects, Mayersohn was equally engrossed in both school and street games.

"I was a serious student, but I also played punch ball with the neighborhood kids," he said.

Mayersohn remembers his uncle taking him to the "great bookstores of Manhattan." When he left New York to attend college at Harvard, the Harvard Book Store was a natural magnet.

"I can't remember the first time I entered the store, because it just seems like a part of my life now," he said.

When Mayersohn and Seamonson first started dating, they perused the shelves after getting ice cream at Bailey's. "I always walked out with five books, and left 10 behind that I really wanted," he said.

Mayersohn and his wife have amassed a collection of upward of 5,000 books in their Wellesley home, where space for bookcase installation is quickly running out.

After Harvard, Mayersohn spent four years studying physics at Yale. Then he decided against a career in academia.

He worked for high-tech companies and garnered expertise in Internet technology. When Mayersohn "semi-retired" and sought to realize his dream, he attended bookstore school (which he called "as good as any business training I've ever had") and began going to trade shows such as BookExpo America.

"At tech trade shows, they gave away stress balls. At my first book trade show, they gave away books. It was my kid-in-a-candy-store moment. If I had an epiphany, that was it."

Armed now with practical knowledge (how to properly illuminate a bookstore for optimal reading light, for example) in addition to a genuine passion for the product, Mayersohn said he is committed to continuity at the store.

"You can't fake a knowledge of books, and his is extensive," said Carole Horne, the general manager.

Horne has been with the store for more than three decades, starting when she was a student at Boston University looking for a temporary job. She never left.

Horne, too, is confident that Mayersohn will uphold the roots of the family legacy.

"When Jeff and I first met, it was supposed to be for one hour," she said. "We ended up talking for four. He wants to learn every job in the company - that shows he's obviously committed."

Mayersohn's former career as an Internet pioneer is somewhat ironic, considering that the advent of online retailing - such as Amazon.com - has contributed to the downfall of the independent bookstore.

In the past two decades, many of the independent bookstores in Cambridge have disappeared, said Horne.

But she, like Mayersohn and Kramer, think the glory days of local businesses are returning.

"I think there is a stronger recognition among the public of the values of buying local," said Kramer. That's why he cofounded Cambridge Local First, a buying alliance.

"Where there is a local first movement, a bookstore is often the catalyst," he said.

Mayersohn spoke confidently about the future of the store.

"I think people are viewing their lives now as too frenetic and information overloaded," he said. "People want to again experience the pleasure of a bookstore. They are also realizing that shopping locally defines a community, and the money stays here."

He also cited the green movement and customer service as reasons the local bookstore is on the rise.

"Here, our staff can make recommendations and have a face-to-face conversation. It's very different from sitting in front of a computer," Mayersohn said.

"The notion of a bookstore as a center for ideas in the community is coming back," he continued. "People love the author events - I think people will begin to appreciate again the free exchange of ideas."

Despite his obvious intellect and Ivy League resume, Mayersohn manages to avoid pretension. His desire to create a community of learning is boundless.

"Jeff has wonderful ideas, and he'll be great at adapting to changing needs," said Kramer. "The future is about increasing ties with the community, and he will be able to meld technology with the physical store."