Exeter’s Business Revolution
On the doors of small shops and restaurants in the town of Exeter there recently appeared orange stickers with an inverted R, encircled by the words “Small Business Revolution.” The sticker serves as a visible reminder for customers and other townspeople that Exeter is competing for a spot on the “Small Business Revolution on Main Street” documentary film project, which promotes and sponsors small businesses.
Across the United States, small businesses are struggling to compete against large enterprises such as Amazon or Target. “Small Business Revolution on Main Street” aims to revitalize towns by showcasing and promoting the small businesses which are often the heart of American towns. The winning town selected to be featured in the documentary, along with six of its small businesses, will receive a $500,000 boost from Deluxe, and the transformations will be documented in an original series.
The town of Exeter, NH, has made the cut for the top 10 towns. Local businesses first became aware of this opportunity via social media pages, word of mouth or a notification from the Exeter Chamber of Commerce.
Beth Dupell, owner of Exeter Copy & More, worked with another town resident to write the essay that initially nominated Exeter to appear on the show after watching the first two seasons of the series. “My husband and I, because we own a small business, and specifically a marketing and design business, we like to watch shows about small businesses because oftentimes the challenges small business owners have is marketing,” Dupell said. Two days after submitting the nomination form, she received a questionnaire asking about the town of Exeter—the town itself, the leadership, government, different business districts, initiatives the town has rallied behind, challenges, successes and Phillips Exeter Academy. Later, she found out via Facebook that Exeter had made the cut in the top 20, and then the top 10.
“Shop with commitment and not with convenience.”
Dupell emailed local businesses and suggested they participate in the project as business owners in the town, and many agreed. Echoing Dupell’s sentiments, Exeter Jewelers owner Mario Ponte hoped to gain “marketing expertise, more customers that don’t necessarily visit the town now and mainly publicity” with his participation in the project.
According to Ryan Day from D Squared Java, filmmakers from Deluxe came to town multiple times to interview the leading businesses and to speak with the local government at the town hall. At his coffee shop, they spoke to the owner Daniel Demers; Day hopes that the essence of D Squared—a third-wave coffee shop selling specialty light roast brew-by-the-cup coffee—was adequately captured in the interview.
Trends Gift Gallery & Invitation Studio owner Kathy Lemerise highlighted the importance of supporting small businesses in the town, saying that they were “what the heart of the town is all about.” Trends Gift Gallery & Invitation Studio’s marketing campaign was to ask customers to shop with commitment and not convenience. “It is very easy to shop online or go to the mall but lots of people go to school, work and live here because they love the downtown,” she said. “And if I can’t survive because of all the competition...I go out of business, then the jeweler will go out of business and then the coffee shop, and the whole dynamic of our town would change.”
Similarly, Day said that winning this competition would mean a lot for the town, because “small businesses really add a distinct feel to it.” His hope is that with the prize money, businesses will upgrade their equipment to provide even more high-quality service for customers and draw people from outside of the town. “It’s very sad but the local Chinese restaurant, Penang [and Tokyo], had to close down because they weren’t getting enough customers, and then the local theatre, the Ioka, has been vacant for five years because the board was not able to spend money on replacing certain things to meet the firecode,” Day said, adding that he would like to see the Ioka, a historic theatre from the early 1910s, open again.
Ponte hoped that members of the community, including PEA students and town residents, would support small businesses in Exeter by voting. “Once the vote goes public, it will be very important for everyone to vote and tag MyExeter on social media because it comes down to public vote.” After the top ten towns are narrowed down to five, the final applicants will be announced on Feb. 13 at 7:00 a.m. Eastern standard time via Facebook Live.
“We can’t wait to find out that we’re in top five to then get people to vote. We have to start talking about it now and start rallying the troops,” Dupell said. Last year’s winning town, Bristol Borough, PA, received over 375,000 votes, and the estimate number of votes necessary for this year’s winning town is close to 500,000. “Exeter is not going to be able to make this happen alone as we only have 15,000 residents. We need the state to get behind it, we need New England to get behind it, we need UNH and UNH alumni, PEA and PEA alumni,” Dupell said.
With governor of New Hampshire Chris Sununu promising his support and so many town businesses participating, Exeter’s shop-owners are optimistic about winning and hopeful that PEA students will pitch in. Lemerise advised Exonians on how to help local businesses. “Shop with commitment and not with convenience,” she said. “You could buy a box of note cards here instead of walking to Walgreens.”