Bob Slate Opens With Fresh Face

Last Saturday, Laura E. Donohue ’85 opened the doors to the new home of Bob Slate at 30 Brattle St. Even though the store was not fully stocked and they could not accept credit cards, word had spread that a new Bob Slate would be opening, and it was quickly flooded with old customers.

“I decided to let people walk in and believe Bob Slate was real,” Donohue said.

That day, the store grew so busy that Donohue called in Mallory Slate, the former owner, to help run the cash register. At the new location, many of the faces remain the same as Donohue has hired several former store employees.

Donohue is herself no stranger to the Square’s most venerable stationery store, having purchased her school supplies there as a student in Cambridge. Now, Donohue faces the challenge of reinvigorating the 80-year-old store beloved by Cantabridgians.

CUSTOMER TO OWNER

When Donohue moved into Thayer and began her first year at the College, she needed school supplies and was soon told of the “great store” Bob Slate by upperclassmen. There she found traditional folders, notebooks emblazoned with the Bob Slate logo, and unique items from green pens to golden binder clips.

“It was like a treasure hunt every time I was there,” Donohue said.

That store, on 1288 Mass. Ave., was her go-to place for school supplies during her four years at Harvard and later at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Twenty years later, Donohue returned to the store to cheer herself up by buying a nice pen only to find a sign announcing the closing of all three Bob Slate locations.

“We’re going to lose another one,” Donohue thought until she looked closer at the sign and saw that the owners—brothers Mallory and Justin Slate—had been trying to sell the business for two years.

“So I bought the pen and then I asked an employee, Jim Barbaro, who had helped me pick out supplies when I was a student at business school, ‘Who do I talk to about buying the business?’”

Since purchasing the store last spring, Donohue has worked to open the business but has faced a series of obstacles. At first, she and the Slates believed they could keep the storefront, but it had already been purchased.

“I said I’m not done yet. You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” she said.

Donohue walked the streets of Harvard Square and made calls to the empty storefronts. The first call went to Richard Getz, who owns the property at 30 Brattle St. Getz immediately got onboard with the project, telling Donohue over the phone, “Bob Slate? No problem.”

Before buying the store, Donohue worked for Harvard Business Publishing, a job she had grown tired of. She also owns a four-family home behind Mather House that she has rented out for 14 years. After leaving her job, Donohue thought about buying another property to lease—until she walked into Bob Slate. Donohue emptied her retirement fund to purchase the store.

“At a big corporation, you don’t get to see the individuals, but here you’re helping somebody have a nice day. I want to be happy and enjoy what I do. And if I can make a salary and employ nice people too, that’s great,” Donohue said.

THE MODERN STATIONERY STORE

The Slates have had to reinvent the store several times since its founding in the 1930s by adapting to the changing technology, including popularization of the telephone and the invention of the fax machine. Now, the company faces competition from internet sales and needs to reinvent itself again. But in their mid-70s, the Slate brothers no longer had the energy to do it.

“Laura [Donohue] is a magnificent human being full of enthusiasm and vigor needed to take Bob Slate into the 21st century,” Mallory said.

Donohue is looking to modernize the store by beginning to sell technology accessories and personalized invitations and stationery. She also has plans to periodically introduce new items into the inventory, which she hopes will add variety to the store’s offerings. Donohue also said that she will carry out market research to determine how to increase the number of younger customers.

“I’d love to come to a Harvard dorm room and see what they have on their desk. How do they organize their work? What do they bring to class?” Donohue said.

Donohue is embracing new technology by adding a computer system that will integrate the store’s financial system and the register, so she can keep track of the sales. Donohue also plans on creating a web store.

Along with adding new items, Donohue will continue selling Bob Slate’s traditional products, including theses binders, one item that she fondly remembers having to purchase at Bob Slate when she was an undergraduate.

“Mallory and Justin gave me their store with their fathers’ name. I want to be true to Bob Slate,” Donohue said.

Donohue is planning a grand opening before the holiday season when the store will be fully stocked.

—Staff writer Kerry M. Flynn can be reached at kflynn@college.harvard.