Editor's note: This is the fifth installment in a 10-part series profiling various members of the Upper Valley Community.
The relative success or failure of many a Dartmouth fraternity party rests on the shoulders--and kegs--of Jack Stinson, owner of Stinson's Village Store on Allen Street -- the self-defined "guy who gives them the beer." Interactions with regular student customers, such as the social chairs and officers of fraternities, makes Stinson's job enjoyable, he said.
"Of course, I'm providing beer when they're excited and during the happy times," he added. "I sell a lot of cigarettes when they're stressed."
Stinson's family has owned the store since moving to Hanover in the 1970s. Stinson, who has been the store's sole owner for more than 20 years, has noticed many changes during his time in Hanover, especially after the College began admitting women.
"Since the girls got here, guys started using a lot more common sense," he said.
The College lexicon has also changed, according to Stinson.
"I don't hear two words anymore -- 'pinhead' or 'mung,' the legendary stuff on frat floors that you had to walk through to deliver beer," he said.
Current students also exhibit less of a mob mentality than students did years ago, he said.
"Dartmouth students show a lot more etiquette now compared to that balls-to-the-walls, toga party, 70s and early 80s," he said. "The individual comes out a lot more now."
Although Stinson said interacting with students "keeps [him] awake," he acknowledged the difficulties of owning a store in a college town. An arrest occurs at the store every two weeks, Stinson said, noting that 70 percent of Hanover liquor violations come from his store.
Stinson cards people after every purchase during big weekends, he said. He also notifies the police about underage students attempting to purchase alcohol, and he does not ignore suspicious behavior in his store, he said.
"If ya act stupid, I'm gonna treat ya like you're stupid," he said.
The store could lose its license if it violates alcohol policy three times in three years, Stinson said. The store was once fined $1,200 after accepting a "good fake" from a student, he added.
"It's serious, it's real, it absolutely costs money," he said. "You have to be a hard-ass, there's no other option."
Stinson also refuses to sell alcohol to people who are already intoxicated, even if they are over 21, he said. Stinson once forcibly removed an intoxicated fraternity member of legal age from the store, he said, as an example.
"Normally, me calling a cop on a fraternity would be death, but the kid was just too big to not take seriously," he said, noting that the student was a 380-pound football player. Three different fraternity members were called to bring the student home and then they too were detained for being too intoxicated to drive, according to Stinson.
"It was so comical, it just didn't end," he said.
Stinson's Hanover location has other difficulties besides student alcohol violations, he said, as business dwindles during the summer when most students are off campus.
"The rent in Hanover is extraordinary," he said, adding that it forces him to keep his margins and operational costs in order to be competitive with other liquor stores in the area. "That's the tricky thing, you can buy beer anywhere. If your price is one or two dollars more than someone else, people just drive down the street. That's kinda what it is--it's a game."
He added that the store, which sold more groceries before the creation of Topside at the College, must now continually expand its beer selection.
Stinson said he enjoys being part of the Dartmouth community but believes that Dartmouth does not fully define Hanover's identity.
Darin Perry, a Stinson's employee who also operates a catering service out of the store, described his interactions with regular Upper Valley customers.
"There's a guy who comes in every day and just buys bananas," Perry said. "He also buys limes and he'll just roll them [on the counter]."
Stinson has served on the Upper Valley Ski Council for 10 years and also volunteers with the Hanover Recreation Department.
