Shopping

Books
With more bookstores per capita than almost anywhere else in the world, Cambridge is heaven for book-lovers. Finding good textbook prices is difficult, since book-sellers can capitalize on our obligation to purchase. Several stores sell discount books, but textbooks aren't usually included. If your course books at The Coop seem overpriced, you may be lucky enough to find some of them at Wordsworth or Harvard Bookstore in Harvard Square or, for science and technical works, Quantum Books in Kendall Square. However, local bookstores do no usually carry large quantities of textbooks. On-line discount booksellers are becoming more and more common. Two big ones are, of course, Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Even here, though, textbooks can be overpriced.

With such a plethora of choices, we must limit our list to those that the editors and contributors recommend. Addresses and phone numbers are available in the Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard.

• Harvard Bookstore and Wordsworth: Solid reputations as excellent Humanities and Social Sciences bookstores.
• Harvard Coop: Selection of books continues to improve under management by Barnes & Noble.
• Harvard University Press Display Room and MIT Press Bookstore: Complete selections of materials published by the University presses.
• McIntyre & Moore: Best used/rare bookstore in Cambridge; academic stock covers many fields; has such treasures as books in Hebrew, on paleography in South Asia, and those old, yellow books on math minutiae. Found in Davis Square.
• Starr Bookshop: Great Philosophy and Social Sciences selection, plus rows upon rows of Loeb Classics for the Latin and Greek speakers among us; reasonably priced and tons of books.
• Quantum Books in Kendall Square: carries the best selection of science books in the area.
• Schoenhof's: The only local store dedicated exclusively to languages and linguistics; students in these programs will become well acquainted with this excellent bookstore.
• Raven Used Books: Located at 52 JFK St. #B, Raven is another store for used scholarly books. They also buy books and can be contacted by email.

Shopping Malls and Outlets
Closest to Harvard is the Cambridgeside Galleria, a three-story mall featuring Sears, Filene's, and Best Buy at the southeast corner of Cambridge. It is next to Lechmere Station, to which you can travel by T (Green Line) or bus (69 from Harvard). The mall also runs free shuttles every twenty minutes from the MIT Coop (across the street from the Kendall T stop on the Red Line).

In downtown Boston, you'll find the Copley Mall/Prudential Center complex with everything from Saks Fifth Avenue to Nieman Marcus to a Warner Bros. Store.

One of the most affordable shopping areas is Downtown Crossing, which includes the original Filene's Basement, good for a spectacle as much as for deals. You can get high quality merchandise at cheap prices. At an annual wedding dress sale, featured gowns are claimed within minutes of opening. Just down the street, you'll find Eddie Bauer and Gap Outlets and other affordable stores.

If you have a car or miss the days of growing up in suburbia, you might want to head out to the huge shopping malls in Natick containing every store you can imagine (one is even called "Shopper's World"). A bit closer, but still requiring a car, is the Burlington Mall.

From Cape Cod, to Braintree on the South Shore (I-93 South), to Kittery, just across the Maine border (I-95 North), the bay area is sprinkled with hard core shopping outlets. If you don't mind driving an extra hour north on I-95 from Kittery, you can go to Freeport, whose outlets are centered around the original L.L. Bean Retail Store. This famous mail-order company, open 24 hours, 365 days a year, has many floors of camping gear, parkas, clothing and even canoes. There is also plentiful outlet shopping at the Watertown Mall, 550 Arsenal St. in Watertown. While the prices may be a bit disappointing, you can get good deals if you resist the temptation to impulse buy.

Drug Stores and Pharmacies
Students suggest going outside Harvard Square to have prescriptions filled. Higher rent prices in this area have lead to higher prices on consumables in general, though some single out the UHS Pharmacy in the Holyoke Center arcade as having particularly inflated prices. Calling around is the best way to find competitive prices to fit your needs. CVS Pharmacy at Porter Square (876-4037) is open 24 hours a day, making it a handy place to pick up midnight emergency items.

Office Supplies
If you can part with the Harvard-insignia stamped materials of the COOP and Bob Slate doesn't have what you're looking for, you can look in the mini-Staples in the Galleria on JFK street, or leave Harvard Square for superstores such as Staples at the Fresh Pond Mall (T: Alewife) or Office Max is at the Twin City Plaza on McGrath Highway in Somerville (625-6455).