I love the Harvard Bookstore, but the Cambridge neighborhood (or maybe Boston more generally?) may be a bit unusual.
Cambridge also supports an outstanding independent bookstore focused on books in foreign languages (Schoenhof's[1]), a small poetry-only independent bookstore right around the corner from The Harvard Bookstore (Grolier Poetry Bookshop[2]) and a used bookstore with a focus on scholarly books (Raven Books[3]).
Raven is newer (the Cambridge branch opened only in 2005), and both Grolier and Schoenhof's are less well-stocked than they once were (I've been visiting Cambridge more or less yearly since around 1992), but they still exist. Comparable places in so many other cities are just gone.
Edit: Reading the commenters who live in Boston talk about "the carnage" in their local book scene makes me think "the grass is always greener". Where I live (NYC) I only notice the dead or dying bookstores, but Boston always seems relatively thriving when I visit.
Cambridge also supports an outstanding independent bookstore focused on books in foreign languages (Schoenhof's[1]), a small poetry-only independent bookstore right around the corner from The Harvard Bookstore (Grolier Poetry Bookshop[2]) and a used bookstore with a focus on scholarly books (Raven Books[3]).
Raven is newer (the Cambridge branch opened only in 2005), and both Grolier and Schoenhof's are less well-stocked than they once were (I've been visiting Cambridge more or less yearly since around 1992), but they still exist. Comparable places in so many other cities are just gone.
Edit: Reading the commenters who live in Boston talk about "the carnage" in their local book scene makes me think "the grass is always greener". Where I live (NYC) I only notice the dead or dying bookstores, but Boston always seems relatively thriving when I visit.
[1]: http://www.schoenhofs.com/
[2]: http://grolierpoetrybookshop.org/blog2/
[3]: http://www.ravencambridge.com/