PW: Three Little Monkeys

Three Little Monkeys, a children's bookstore in Chestnut Hill, Mass., was one of the first stores to close in the new year. Opened in November 1998, it marked the first foray into mall retail for owners Hillel Stavis and his wife, Donna Friedman. Stavis and Friedman also own three successful stores in Harvard Square in Cambridge: WordsWorth Books; the children's bookstore Curious George G s to WordsWorth; and WordsWorth Gifts.

Stavis, who was one of the first to establish a bookstore outpost on the Web at www.wordsworth.com, said, "We're concentrating our efforts on the Internet rather than retail locations." Even so, holiday sales at the three WordsWorth stores were "much better than projected," noted Stavis, whose Harvard Square business has faced stiff competition in recent years from the Harvard Coop, which is directly across the street and is now managed by Barnes & Noble's college division.