HANOVER — The owners of Main Street Kitchens announced they will take an indefinite hiatus from running the downtown kitchenware store, with the Allen Street shop set to close on Valentine’s Day.
David and Kaitlyn Barrette shared the decision with customers on Jan. 4 in a message posted on social media and the store’s website. “We want everyone to know that it was a tough decision to close the store but the right one for our family at this time,” David Barrette wrote in an emailed response to questions about the closing.
The closure will remove a long-running retail business from downtown Hanover, where the store has operated for about 30 years, including 23 years in its namesake Main Street location and the last five years on Allen Street under the Barrettes. In his email, David Barrette described the store as a fixture for “locals, Dartmouth families and visitors,” writing, “Main Street Kitchens has long been part of what makes Hanover feel like Hanover.”
The Barrettes grew up in the Upper Valley before relocating to Florida, according to the Valley News. After returning to the region, they bought Main Street Kitchens in 2018 from Marv and Mary Schouten, who had run the store for decades. David Barrette said the couple felt drawn to the Hanover small business and saw it as a place to lay roots as a young family.
Under the Barrettes’ ownership, Main Street Kitchens expanded its offerings to include new gadgets, specialty foods and an online shop, which launched in 2020. That same year, the couple moved the store from South Main Street to Allen Street because of high rent, according to the Valley News.
David Barrette said the store’s appeal came from being a family-owned small business able to offer “real expertise in real time” to customers looking for high-quality kitchen products. He said the couple measured the store’s success through relationships built with visitors and the community.
The Barrettes said the hiatus does not necessarily mean the end of the business. Their public post stated they have no set reopening date but have “the intention to return when the timing and conditions feel right.”
The pending closure also raises questions about what will come next for a stretch of Allen Street with other recent vacancies. The announcement follows Circle Furniture’s closure and other regional retail closures as small businesses face mounting pressures. Next door to Main Street Kitchens, Michael’s Audio-Video closed last year, leaving a nearby storefront empty.
Robert Meyer, a project manager at the Hanover-based BaySon Company, has owned the building that Main Street Kitchens is leaving since last year. Meyer said the Barrettes were “great tenants” and that their store drew a new crowd to Allen Street. “We wish them all the best and if they decide to reopen a store in the future, we would love to be able to accommodate them in one of our spaces,” Meyer said.
Jack Stinson, who owns Stinson’s Village Store in the same building, said he respected the Barrettes’ work and was sad to see them go. Stinson said he saw demand for Main Street Kitchens’ products, including from restaurants. “I’d like to see them come back,” Stinson said. If they do not, Stinson said he would like to see the vacant neighboring space filled by a hardware store to balance out what he described as a concentration of restaurants and banks nearby.
Meyer said BaySon’s immediate focus is addressing deferred maintenance on the Allen Street property rather than quickly filling the vacancies. While there have been inquiries about taking over the space, Meyer said the company is not in a rush.
He added that retail use is a good fit for the space and that downtown Hanover needs businesses like Main Street Kitchens to remain vibrant. “It is no secret that bricks and mortar retail is getting more difficult in small, urban settings. However, without a healthy mix, we have the potential to lose it altogether in and around Main Street, Hanover,” Meyer said.
David Barrette also pointed to broader pressures facing retail in Hanover. “In Hanover, the realities of a historic downtown that include limited parking and higher operating costs have long shaped how small businesses operate,” he said.
Main Street Kitchens is scheduled to close after Feb. 14. The Barrettes have said they plan to retain the business and may re-establish it in the future, though no timeline has been announced.
