A littlel more than a month after its holding company sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, 29-year-old WordsWorth Books in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., closed Oct. 29. The store's inventory had been noticeably diminished in recent weeks, and many of the booksellers, some of whom had been with WordsWorth for a decade or more, were let go. Last week, posters asking for investors were replaced with notices that all inventory is being discounted 50% and bookcases are for sale. WordsWorth's eight-year-old sibling, Curious George Goes to WordsWorth, a children's book and toy store, is expected to survive. and be renamed Curious George and Friends.
With the closing of WordsWorth, the number of independent bookstores in Harvard Square will dwindle from a high of nearly 24 a decade ago to a quarter of that today.
