But as it was, the store "was like any mall store," Bob said.
Several business people pointed to rising costs and economic pressures facing many stores in Harvard Square.
"There's so many record stores around here, how do they expect to do well?" asked Craig Welsch, assistant manager of neighboring Buck-A-Book.
Wyneken said he believed the Strawberries store had not been popular.
"Every time I've been down there, nobody was there," he said.
A manager at HMV on Brattle Street was busy with an in-store concert given by James, and could only say that HMV was "sorry to lose a competitor, because it's good for the business."
He said business at HMV was thriving.
A cashier at Tower Records on Mt. Auburn Street, Andrei Smaranboiu, also said his employer was doing well