According to Daniel Maxton, assistant manager of the Mount Auburn Street shop, “We are out there and committed to making it work in the area, preferably in Harvard Square.” In that post for three years, Maxton will remain with the company after the closing. “Our efforts have really just been focused on reaching out to everyone that we can around Cambridge and closing up the shop in a good way.”

Although J. Press was founded in 1902 on the Yale campus by Latvian immigrant Jacobi Press, its association with Harvard is long and deep. Generations of students have outfitted themselves with its traditional khakis, blazers, and Oxford cloth shirts, while dignitaries, such as the U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, J.D. ’64, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (a 2011 Institute of Politics fellow) have been regular customers as well.

That association, like the store’s signature conservative style, is understated. “We don’t carry a lot of Harvard-branded and sanctioned stuff,” says Maxton. “I’d rather have a lot of crimson around, keeping it a little lower key.”

On a recent visit, the store was busy for a steamy summer afternoon. Some of that traffic could be attributed to its ongoing sales. In addition to end-of-season offerings, the shop is giving discounts of 80 percent on selected older stock. Some of the traffic, opined Maxton, is longtime customers coming by for a last visit or to say farewell. “We’re seeing a lot of familiar faces come by, which is great,” he said. “One last hurrah, though we’re sorry about the circumstances.”