According to popular myth, high retail prices in Harvard Square are a pitfall of Harvard life, but like most myths, it's a mix of fact and fiction.

In an informal Crimson poll, 75 percent of students said they believed prices in the Square are higher than in other parts of Cambridge and downtown Boston.

"I think prices in Harvard Square are ridiculously higher than the prices in Boston," says Michael J. Giordano '02.

But a survey of local businesses shows that the Square is a more expensive place to shop only if you shop at independent stores. Chains tend to keep their prices more or less uniform in the same area--in fact, in many instances chain prices are lower in the Square than elsewhere in metropolitan Boston.

So while "chain creep"--the replacement of Mom-and-Pop stores with national chains--may raise the ire of local residents, it could lower the cost of living for students who find shopping in the Square more convenient.

The Band Plays On

No dorm room would be the same without a CD collection. The only question is where to buy it, and the answer is mixed. On some counts, the Square defies myth and has lower prices. At the very least, prices are competitive.

The Crimson compared prices on 12 CDs and two movies at HMV: the prices of two are higher in the Square, the rest are equivalent to the store near Newbury Street.

According to Lisa Goren, store manager at HMV in Harvard Square, prices are not always consistent across the HMV chain, and individual HMVs have their own store sales.

"There are certain things that are nationwide and certain things that are local," she says. "If there were something on sale [at one store at not at the other], and someone wanted it for the same price, it wouldn't be a problem."

At Tower Records, of the six CDs and a movie, three CDs are cheaper by about $1 in the Square than on Newbury Street. One of the movies is more expensive, however, by about $10.

"We have corporate sales which are for all Tower stores in America. But sometimes...[individual store buyers] will put stuff on sale," says Adam C. Standish, supervisor at the Harvard Square Tower Records. "There are occurrences where a CD is on sale at our store but not at another store."

The Clothes Make the Man

The No. 1 tourist destination in the state, Faneuil Hall is a mecca for mainstream clothing stores like the Gap, Ann Taylor and Express. So is Harvard Square, the No. 2 destination, and home to those stores as well Structure and, soon, Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Gap at Faneuil Hall, Cambridge-Side Galleria and Harvard Square have the same regular prices on all four items chosen at random.