Hoping to draw a big-name merchandiser to Hanover, the owner of a downtown office building is courting clothing vendor J. Crew as well as several other national retailers to fill the vacancy created when Cotton Crew Levi's and Dockers moved out earlier this month.
The two previous retailers, located at the 63 South Main Street property, closed within a year-and-a-half of opening their stores, according to building landlord David Clem of Lyme Properties. The two retail spaces, located on the ground floor of a property that houses the Hanover branch of Bank of America and the College's Career Services office, were created two years ago.
Cotton Crew moved into a West Lebanon store earlier this month. Foxtails, an upscale floral store, terminated its contract in November of last year.
J. Crew, which operates nearly 200 stores, contacted Clem about two months ago and requested a proposal for the site.
"We do review all good opportunities," said Heather Lynch, J. Crew's public relations director. "We constantly are reviewing new locations and markets."
Clem said any deal with the clothing merchant would have to happen before the end of March.
"If they don't make a decision fairly soon we're probably going to go in a different direction," Clem said.
Lynch said she was unsure whether her company would settle on a course of action in the near future.
"We'll look into it for the future," she said, noting that the J. Crew is constantly scouting high-traffic, upscale locations.
Clem attributed the failed stores' disappointing results in the South Main Street location to a misunderstanding of the Hanover market.
"Both of them were experienced operators [but] they were just not able to make it work in that location," Clem said.
According to Clem, the retailer best suited for Hanover's college-town market must operate a sophisticated merchandising organization and market its products effectively.
Cotton Crew and Foxtails were not able to achieve the sales they hoped to in part because the Hanover market "defies conventional wisdom in defining its strength," Clem said.
"It is not just the student market, it is not just the high-end neighborhood market -- it draws regional traffic," Clem said.
Clem said the strength of the downtown Hanover consumer base is greater than the town's size would typically lead one to believe.
"We think the best retailer for that location would be J. Crew," Clem said, pointing to the success of the Gap and Talbots, two national chains with stores in downtown Hanover.
Clem said his daughter, a Dartmouth junior, told him that students would "love" to see a J. Crew come to Hanover.
"I think it would be interesting, if the Dartmouth students thought that was a good use for Main Street, if someone would organize an e-mail campaign showing how much support there is for J. Crew in that location," Clem said.
In the meantime, Clem said he is actively marketing the space to several other prospective tenants, including national outdoor gear retailer The North Face.
