To the Editor:

 The forced closing of Jordan’s, in the Princeton Shopping Center, is a calamity. Management has declined to renew Jordan’s lease because the store does not generate income sufficient to cover the new higher rent required.

Jordan’s is a card/stationery/candles/novelties store. Obviously a store selling $3 birthday cards will produce less income than a hair salon selling $80 haircuts. But while there are many hair salons in Princeton, there is only one store like Jordan’s. Is there no room for reasonable accommodation here?

By forcing Jordan’s out of the shopping center, management strips the Princeton community of convenience, tradition, and one of the few remaining mom-and-pop enterprises in town. Unintentionally but undeniably, its action accelerates the process of faceless franchising and McMansionization that is draining Princeton of its once unique charm. There must surely be a compromise available to people of good will.

Linda Dowling

Harriet Drive