Good news! Corporation rescues Out of Town stand
By Jenna Nierstedt, Globe Correspondent | January 29, 2009
Don't stop the presses yet - Out of Town News, the Harvard Square newsstand and historic landmark, is not closing.
Retail store operator Muckey's Corp., which runs newsstands in the Boston area under Patriot News Inc., signed a five-year lease Monday to take over Out of Town News. It will remain a newsstand, per the signed contract, but also because Muckey's wanted to maintain the tradition.
"I am looking forward to being a part of the community in Cambridge," said Mike Patel, owner of Muckey's Corp., 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 decades-old newsstand, which sells domestic and international publications, was rumored to be closing this month, after its former operator, Hudson News of East Rutherford, N.J., did not renew its lease with the City of Cambridge, citing diminished demand for print news. The lease was to expire Saturday.
When word surfaced in November that Out of Town might close, residents and shoppers expressed shock, while the city scrambled to find another news dealer.
Cambridge, which owns the 450-square-foot property, opened the space up to bidders.
Muckey's Corp. had the highest bid, at $140 per square foot, said Ini Tomeu, Cambridge public information officer. Unofficial Tours, a Harvard student organization that gives tours of the university, came in second with a bid of $136 per square foot. Current manager, Kallol Barua, bid $106.43.
"I think it's fabulous they're keeping the tradition, something that I started," said Sheldon Cohen, who founded Out of Town News in 1955. "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.
Globe correspondent Victoria Cheng contributed to this report.