At its understated storefront on 90 Mt. Auburn St., the Harvard Provision Company (the Pro) has supplied wine and spirits to Harvard undergraduates and Cambridge residents for over 100 years. But on March 14, it will shut its doors forever.

Connoisseurs need not worry, however—the Pro’s owner promises to find a new home for the shop in the Square by summer.

The old wood-framed building, built by Irish immigrants around the turn of the century, also houses Skewers, a Middle-Eastern restaurant.

Harvard is demolishing the building and constructing a new one on the site. The new structure will be primarily devoted to the administration of the Harvard University library system.

It will be the first multi-story administrative building constructed on the stretch on Mt. Auburn St. between Winthrop Park and Harvard Hillel.

Robert Shire, who has owned the Pro for the past year, says the University has been extremely forthcoming about the process since it decided to reclaim the building around four years ago. He also says he is engaged in talks to secure a new lease in the Square for the Pro.

“Every indication is that in the near future we’ll be able to satisfactorily negotiate a new lease for the store,” he says. “We plan to relocate and maintain the business in its current form.”

Still, customers walking around the unusually bare wine racks of the Pro say that they are disappointed by the store’s closing. Employees say they will not be receiving any more shipments of alcohol until the store closes, saying that they will just be selling off their remaining stock.

Sitting on an empty case of Haut-Medoc and discussing politics and wine with store employees, Brian C. Bryan, a regular for the last ten years, says he will miss the community that has developed around the store.

“When you walk in, you can tell, it’s not just a liquor store—it has a certain feel to it,” he says. “I guess I’ll just buy wine at Bread & Circus, but they don’t have the type of knowledge they have here.”

Harvard undergraduates who frequent the Pro say the store’s closing will be a “huge inconvenience,” complaining they will have to go to Central or Porter Squares to procure hard alcohol.

Lisa J. Faiman,’02-’03, says that the location of the Pro is its strongest asset.

“It’s unfair to make final clubs the most convenient place to get alcohol,” she says.

“It’s going to be much harder for Harvard kids to have sex now,” she quips.

And Elizabeth C. Drummond ’04 says she will miss the Pro’s expert advice on selecting fine wines.