To Shakespeare, brevity may be the soul of wit, but to the Harvard Square faithful, there was nothing pointedly funny about the brief message posted on the door of Elsie's Sand-wich Shop late last month.

"Elsie's will be closing December 30th. After 30 years, we are trying to relocate. Thank you for your patron-age."

Like Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, a mere 265 words, the terse Elsie's note also shows that even a little verbiage can say a lot:

Harvard Square, once a bastion of alternativism, quaint shops and inexpensive restaurants, is now being gentrified.

In the last decade, large franchise chains have infiltrated the business niches of the Square, successfully ousting the "mom and pop" shops--long the staples of the streets that surround the University.

Elsie's is typical of many of the smaller shops in the Square which have closed, because their clientele switched to more trendy franchise restaurants like Chili's and Au Bon Pain.

The sandwich shop, which has been feeding the Harvard community at its Mt. Auburn St. location for the last thirty years, officially closed December 30.

"There are a lot more choices for people to go to today," says Elsie's owner Phillip S. Markel. "Thirty years ago there weren't nearly as many restaurants in the Square, and we didn't have the Au Bon Pains of the world."

Markel and other long-time store owners in the Square say their profits have declined since the arrival of the larger chain stores a decade ago.

"People are eating more fast-food and take-out now," says Siam Garden owner Manope Mookhiruntara. "There used to be 10 or 11 Thai restaurants... now there are at least 100 of them in Boston and Cambridge and three in Harvard Square alone."

Mookhiruntara, who has owned the restaurant for 10 years, says his business has steadily been declining and, as a result, he has had to lay off about one-fifth of his staff.

"About 10 years ago, we had 140 to 150 people eating here on a weekday, now maybe 60 to 70," Mookhiruntara says. "Our income has dropped 20 percent in the last 10 years."

Although Mookhiruntura says the Siam Garden is doing well now, he admits to having seriously considered relocating after local competition increased and he began losing customers in droves.

"We thought about moving out from the Square to find another place, because the rent increased and our income decreased," Mookhiruntara says.

Le Foot Sportif on Mt. Auburn St. has also lost much of its business to larger chains that sell athletic footwear. City Sports, for example, moved into Holyoke Center last year.

"It's hard for the small, independent store to compete with the powerful chains," Le Foot Sportif owner Hezi Gabai says. "It would be pitiful to see the small store go, no matter if it is here or downtown on Main St."