Small Business Spotlight: Market on Main

I’m a Manchester girl. I moved to Manchester in 2002 and I have never moved away. I took classes at Manchester High School and Manchester Community College. I travel a lot, and when I come back to Manchester I always feel peace.

For a while, I worked at my dad’s business in town. In 2012 there was an opportunity to buy this market. My brother had a big hope for downtown Manchester. He said that Manchester was on the way up and that I should not miss this opportunity. I took him at his word and we bought the market. Manchester has grown a lot, but there have also been many challenges for our shop.

For our first year we worked really hard and got very busy. Then, in 2013 the bakery next door burnt down. We had a lot of damage. I had only one choice, I could walk out or do something better here. I just didn’t want to give up. I needed a way to bring people back into the market. There was a deli case in the store and I decided to open a quality deli. I went and took some classes and started making grinders to bring people back into the store.

But, there was still a lot of downtime for the store and we lost money. I asked everybody in my family for money so that we could reopen. I didn’t want to owe money so I went and took a job at an insurance company and worked overtime until I paid everyone back. Two years later I quit that job and came back to the market full time.

When I came back, I focused on the deli. We bought the best quality of meat and locally made bread. We now have a great deli and our market is improving all the time.

This business means a lot for me because of my customers. I see some of them every day and they have become like family to me. If I don’t see them for a few days I worry. I am so thankful to each and every customer that supports our business.

I haven’t reached my goal yet. When we started the business I had a dream to make this into a real market. This is what it was many years ago and I want to bring it back to that. I want it to be a good neighborhood market for my customers and I know someday soon it will be.