New operator found for iconic Harvard Square newsstand

January 28, 2009 07:43 PM Email| Comments (10)| Text size – +

(Essdras Suarez/Globe Staff)

A new company has stepped up to operate Out of Town News.

By Jenna Nierstedt and Victoria Cheng, Globe Correspondents

A new operator has been found for the landmark Out of Town News newsstand in Harvard Square, Cambridge officials said today.

Muckey's Corp. beat out three other bidders by proposing to pay the city $140 per square foot to continue to operate the stand and sell newspapers and magazines, city spokeswoman Ini Tomeu confirmed this afternoon in an e-mail.

The current newsstand operator, Hudson News of East Rutherford, N.J., informed the city last year that it did not plan to renew its lease Jan. 31, citing a diminished demand for news on printed paper, the Globe reported in November . The city, which owns the property at the center of the square, sought new vendors who could make a newsstand work on the site.

The deadline for proposals was Jan. 8.

Muckey's, which runs newsstands in the Boston area under Patriot News Inc., signed a lease earlier this week to take over the newsstand.

"I am looking forward to being a part of the community in Cambridge," said Mike Patel, owner of Muckey's, which is headquartered in Pembroke. "I'm very proud to have the business at such a historical place.

"We're going to keep the same kind of vision, and we will try to have more items of whatever the people want. It's still going to be a newsstand. We’re not changing anything."

Muckey's will take over on Sunday, Patel said.

The prospect of the possible demise of the newsstand, which has been in business since 1955 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, shocked and dismayed some people. Notable newsstand visitors have included John Kenneth Galbraith, who bought a copy of Le Monde there every day; Julia Child, who searched for obscure Italian and German cooking magazines; and Robert Frost, who stopped by to get directions to a reading.

A spokesman for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen said last month that the newsstand was where Allen bought the 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine that convinced him and Bill Gates that one day computers would be in every home and on every desk.

"I think it's fabulous they're keeping the tradition, something that I started," said Sheldon Cohen, who founded Out of Town News. "I wish them the very best and hope they continue as a newsstand. The community will patronize it."

Cohen sold the business to Hudson News in 1994.

Out of Town moved in 1984 to its current home, a handmade brick and limestone shelter with vaulted wood ceilings that was built in 1928 as a subway entrance.

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10 comments so far...

This is not the newsstand of 1955. Preserving it is a joke, like preserving the Hudson News stand at the airport. Its not like George washington bought his copy of the Cambridge Chronicle there on the day he took charge of the Continental Army. It's a shoddy copy of the original newsstand with only the roof line preserved. Losing it is no great loss. Do they still carry all those foreign newspapers and magazines? Probably not. The value was in the products they had, not in the quaintness of the stand and location.

Posted by Robert E Kelly January 28, 09 07:44 PM

Wonderful, and even better a Massachusetts company to run it. It's nice to see some good news on the front of Boston.com finally!

Posted by Annemarie from Roslindale January 28, 09 08:05 PM

Boston is tradition. This is good...news!

Posted by anonymous January 28, 09 08:44 PM

"Do they still carry all those foreign newspapers and magazines?"

Yes they do! :)

Posted by Mark January 28, 09 10:13 PM

Bob Kelly- The newsstand does, in fact, still have international papers and publications you can't find anywhere else (in print form).

Posted by Andrew January 28, 09 10:31 PM

"Do they still carry all those foreign newspapers and magazines?"
Of course they do, Mr. Kelly. Clearly you haven't been there in quite some time -- so where does your little rant come from? "Losing it is no great loss"? You are wrong. Preserving Out of Town News is a good thing. Lighten up.

Posted by Kathleen from Medford January 28, 09 10:53 PM

Yes, Mr. Kelly, they still carry "all those foreign newspapers and magazines." You should vist and see for yourself. We made a special trip there recently so my 13-year-old son could buy a French language magazine to share with classmates. My husband, who had lived in Germany for a decade, always stops there when we visit Boston to buy a German language magazine that he so often read when he lived overseas. The place is a gem and for those who enjoy reading and learning about the goings-on around the world, it is good news that it will continue to operate.

Posted by M. Flynn January 28, 09 10:55 PM

Robert Kelly - if you actually went in there you'd realize that they do carry tons of international magazines. Maybe you should know what you're talking about before you rant.

Posted by central squared January 28, 09 11:02 PM

Robert E. Kelly's comment is spot on. The news stand was moved from it's original location after it was razed as part of a subway renovation. How did it ever pass the status test for the National Register of Historic Places??

Posted by Dean Romano January 28, 09 11:35 PM

Not only did Sheldon Cohen found a necessary, people friendly business; but introduced hundreds of young folks to the business world(including me). Plus endearing them to interact with a very diverse society, that Cambridge embues. My hat remains off to Sheldon,locally known as the,"Mayor of Harvard Sq.", and the Out of Town News.

Posted by John Shea January 29, 09 09:35 AM