Don’t mean to give the Kaps menswear stores a free plug, but they’re sounding pretty desperate. From the looks of the big ads in their windows on Central St. in Wellesley and in the newspaper you could almost mistake the retailer for one of those “Going Out of Business!” Oriental rug joints. A big ad in the front section of today’s Boston Globe exclaims that Kaps is having an “unprecedented” sale of up to 50% off merchandise in light of “an unstable economy and troubled times” that has “forced us to re-examine our business” in order to raise cash. Kaps has been around since the late 19th century.
And speaking of the economy, Babson’s Michael Chmura reflects on the writiings of the school’s founder, Roger Babson, including his book “Cheer Up!” that in 1932 encouraged those suffering from the Great Depression that “prosperity always returns.”
A charitible foundation led by travel industry whiz Alan Lewis has bestowed a $10.8 billion gift on Babson College to use “for the establishment of an institute to support teaching, research and outreach in social entrepreneurship.” Babson says this is the 2nd biggest gift from an individual in its history.
Babson College last week formally dedicated Wellesley’s newest spectacular outdoor space: Barefoot Park, which is a newly landscaped area in the upper quad on the Babson Campus.
The park honors ex-Babson president Brian Barefoot (2001-2008), who had the foresight to have such a park-friendly name. No offense, but a park named after current Babson president Leonard Schlesinger just wouldn’t have the same ring to it.
And if you’re thinking Barefoot Park sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of the Neil Simon play converted into a 1967 movie starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.