As the local economy continues to emerge from a difficult year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of longstanding businesses are on the market.
The Hancock Inn, the oldest continuously operating inn in New Hampshire dating back to 1789, has been owned by Jarvis and Marcia Coffin for the last 10 years. When the Coffin’s purchased the 14-guest room inn 10 years ago – that is also home to The Fox Tavern – the idea was to do so with a time frame in mind.
“It was always part of the business plan that we’d do this for 10 years,” Marcia said. Just passing a decade of ownership, Coffin said it was time to begin the process of finding the next stewards of the inn.
“It’s a long sale cycle for these types of businesses,” she said.
There is no deadline for selling, Coffin said, but given it won’t happen overnight beginning the search for new owners gives them the opportunity to start planning for the next phase in life.
With three grown children and three grandchildren, Coffin said the hope is to step back from the role as innkeepers and focus more on family.
“We love it and it’s kind of like our fourth child,” she said. “But going for visits is very prohibitive. As anyone who owns their own business, it is a full bore, all-consuming job. And there’s nothing like this year of COVID to bring to the front of our minds what’s most important in our lives.”
Coffin said the previous two owners had spent a decade at the Hancock Inn and feels that is the right amount of time to stay in it.
“We want the life and energy of the inn to stay vibrant,” she said. “The inn is part of the fabric of the community and we’re fully committed to making sure it goes into the right hands.” It was the same approach the Coffins had when selling the Hancock Market late last year after owning it for the previous three.
At the same time, they want to slow down and enjoy the small things. “As innkeepers, you’re always promoting the wonderful things and attractions in the area, but we very rarely have time to do them,” Coffin said.
Coffin said when the Hancock Inn is sold, they still want to remain in the area.
“We love this place and love the community. We don’t plan on leaving,” she said.
Just down the road, Hancock’s only freestanding eatery, Fiddleheads Cafe and Catering is also up for sale by owner Sherry Williams.
Fiddleheads opened in 2000 and Williams bought both the business and the property four years later. After more than a decade and a half operating Fiddleheads, Williams said she made the decision in the spring to put it on the market. The sale includes both the business, the equipment and the building, which also includes a three-bedroom home on the upper level.
Williams knows it will take some time for a sale to happen, but is hopeful something will come about in the next year or two. She just turned 66 and “I’m just looking toward the next phase in life,” she said. “I’m making the choice to step back.”
“You keep putting things off,” Williams said. “But I think COVID changed priorities for a lot of people. And I can afford to retire.”
While deciding to sell wasn’t a direct result of operating a restaurant during COVID, it certainly was challenging.
“Really the COVID thing and running a business was a lot for me,” Williams said.
But even before coronavirus, running Fiddleheads meant a lot of work.
“When you run a business like this, it’s a way of life,” Williams said. “I was at a place where I was considering it before COVID even hit.”
Williams said she has invested a lot in the property and business over the last 17 years, including a new kitchen four years ago, and the new owner will be set up for success.
“It’s a turn-key operation right now,” she said. “I have built a very successful business that the town appreciates and loves.”
When Monadnock Country Club went bankrupt at the end of the 2016 golf season, Annie Card and a group of others worked to keep it open for the 2017 season. Then in October of that year, Card decided to take over the business and rebrand it as Hilltop Golf Course.
For Card, it was a move to make sure the course carried on.
“It’s not like I was looking to run a golf course. It was never on my radar,” she said. But no one came forward, so she decided to take on the operation of it. “I said I’ll give it a couple years and turn the business around.”
Card said she’s loved running Hilltop, but it’s time for someone else to usher it into the future.
“I’ve been looking for the right people from the beginning,” she said. “I always knew this wasn’t my forever thing.”
Card said when she took over the business was not doing well, but that is no longer the case.
“I took over something that was broken,” she said. “But it’s not a struggling business anymore. I did what I promised to do and there’s just so much growth potential.”
Card said membership grew for the mid-80s when she took over to 138 this year.
As far as what a prospective buyer will get, the business and its inventory like golf carts, maintenance equipment and golf simulator is for sale, but not the property, which is leased from MacDowell.
The Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough will celebrate its 50th anniversary this spring, and co-owner Willard Williams said it is time for a new group to move it into the future. The business, which includes the building in Depot Square and the inventory at all three Toadstool locations – Peterborough, Keene and Nashua – is for sale.
“I don’t feel an urgency to sell it right away,” Willard said earlier this month. “I just think it’s time for a new generation, some new energy, some new blood.”