Just two years after Campion's closed its doors, Campion's Women's Shop, an apparel store catering to a mature clientele, will return to Main Street, this time in the same building as the New Dartmouth Bank.
Dorothy Campion-Corcoran and her husband Marty Corcoran announced plans to move their shop into the first floor of the building on the corner of Main Street and Lebanon Street. The 2,200 square foot space has been up for lease by Jaymark Properties, a real-estate company owned in part by her son Jay Campion, since late last spring.
Campion's Women's Shop, which will open by the end of the month, will offer much the same selection as it did previously, said Campion-Corcoran, who ran the women's department at Campion's for 10 years.
Campion's, which included men's, women's, shoes and sportswear stores, filled Brewster's former location for about 90 years, Campion-Corcoran said.
"There's a real need for really quality women's clothing in our area -- it's a niche that has not been filled," she said. The store will carry more classic designs than Hanover's current women's apparel shops, she said.
In addition to clothing, Campion's Women's Shop will sell handbags, jewelry and Clinique products, a cosmetic line sold in department stores. Currently, area residents have to travel to Manchester, N.H. or Burlington, Vt. to buy Clinique items, Campion-Corcoran said.
Though the store will not cater specifically to a student clientele, Campion-Corcoran said she hopes the Clinique products will attract students initially so they will realize the rest of the shop's offerings.
Campion-Corcoran said she has not yet signed a lease for the space, but that the move is definite. "You can expect the sign to go up in a couple of weeks," she said. She and her husband came up with the idea of bringing back Campion's Women's Store in June, she said, and proposed it to her son and his partner, Mark Schleicher a few days later.
Arrangements for leasing the building's second floor and basement are not yet completed, Woodard said. The second floor is roughly 5,000 square feet and used to house oak-paneled offices and a cafeteria for the bank.
The south end, facing Lebanon Street, will be leased as office space and the north end, toward the Green, may be converted into a restaurant, Woodard said. A stairway leading from Main Street to the small retail space in the basement will eventually be added. The back part near the bank's old vaults may be used for an expansion of Mia's, a women's clothing store on Labanon Street, owned by Jay Campion.
