Rare Essentials, a women’s clothing store on Hanover’s Main Street, is closing following the sudden death of one of the co-owners.
Lynn Kochanek, the owner of Rare Essentials and Essentials for Men, is selling both of her Hanover locations after the sudden passing of her husband and business partner, Walter Kochanek, in late December of last year.
Kochanek and her husband began Rare Essentials to bring retail brands to the New Hampshire and Vermont area, and the couple opened their first store in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1981.
Though she wants to continue working in retail in the Upper Valley, Kochanek said she is not exactly sure what her next step will be. She said that she does not want to stop working entirely, but feels that she must reevaluate her business plan to ensure it is better suited to a single person.
“I’ve established myself here, so I’m determined to work in something similar in the area, just in a way that is more suited for one person,” she said.
Town manager Julia Griffin said that she and the rest of the community are sad to see Rare Essentials go.
“It’s always sad to see a familiar business leave town,” Griffin said.
Griffin also said that she feels Kochanek is making the right decision in the wake of her husband’s death. She said she predicts that Kochanek will use the current Rare Essentials location on Main Street for her new endeavor, whatever that may be.
Recent years have seen an increasing number of national chains, including J. Crew, Starbucks and Verizon, moving into the downtown Hanover area. Griffin attributes this trend to the fact that Hanover — and the broader Upper Valley in general — provides challenges to individual, small retail stores. Despite the large population of students in Hanover, Griffin said, retailers in town have issues with attracting the potential customers to their businesses.
“One of our biggest goals is to get students to venture off-campus and go downtown, but that becomes harder when you factor in the popularity of online shopping,” she said.
Griffin added that J.Crew was eager to open a location in Hanover given the brand’s popularity among the student body, a sentiment she said was shared by The Gap, which previously occupied the same location. She said that Starbucks added a Hanover location for this reason as well.
“It’s obvious how these brands appeal to students,” Griffin said.
She added, however, that Hanover’s demographic is significantly different than that of the larger Upper Valley, creating another challenge for retailers and store owners.
Griffin also said that small-scale retailers have a harder time accessing students and knowing their customer base, adding that the expensive costs of renting store space in Hanover makes it much easier for large chains to afford operating in the town than for individual shopkeepers.
These rent costs, Griffin added, are significantly higher in Hanover than the surrounding towns, which makes it difficult to attract small business owners to the town.
The College represents a significant portion of the Hanover population, and the relatively small population of the Upper Valley outside of the student body also presents difficulties for incentivizing individual retailers to bring their business to Hanover, Griffin said.
“We’re what’s called a ‘micropolitan area,’ meaning we don’t even have enough people to be considered a small metropolitan area,” she said. “Sometimes there isn’t a strong enough customer base for retailers to even consider the area.”
Griffin said her goal for Hanover is to continue to have an even distribution of local businesses and national chain stores, as long as both recognize their student-heavy customer base.
“The key for businesses here is just to get familiar with the unique customers we have here in Hanover,” she said.
Currently, there are several vacant retails spaces in Hanover, including the previous locations of Amidon Jewelers, Lemon Tree Gifts and College Supplies.
Madison McIlwain ’18, who recently bought a jacket from Rare Essentials, said that she is disappointed that the shop will be closing.
“They offered a lot of brands which aren’t offered anywhere else in the area, like Barbour, so I’m really sad to see it go,” she said.