An Overview of  Gus & Ruby, in Portsmouth, NH – Expanding in the Old Port in June.

Rambler’s Way, 100 Market Street, Portsmouth, Looking for Another Location in the Old Port, Portland.

A Close-up of a Display at the Gus & Ruby, Market Square Store, Portsmouth.

Gus & Ruby, a high-end, (expensive) stationery store with its flag ship store in Portsmouth, NH., is expanding its business by opening its second store at 28 Exchange Street, by the end of June.  Two young women opened this store, named for their two dogs, less than five years ago.  One of the women has a relative who owns a letter press business a source of some of its products.  Products include fine stationery,  boxed note cards and various related items.

The Old Port site was until recently the location of the 2ndTimeAround used women’s clothes store which, with short notice to its employees and landlord, shut down.  The national company with forty (40) stores closed fourteen (14) of them in a major consolidation move. The manager of the Old Port store is now the manager of the large Portsmouth store.

Meanwhile, Rambler’s Way, a men and womens clothing store owned by Tom Chappell, former owner of Tom’s of Maine, continues to look for a location in the Old Port in which to expand its fledgling business as well.  It had hoped to be located in the Old Port by now.  One location fell through at the last moment and a replacement hasn’t been found for it.  Clothing is made from Merino wool, a kind of sheep’s soft wool.  This opening when it happens, will be its fourth store, and a step in its ambitious business plan to expand across the nation to the west coast.  The other stores are in Kennebunk and  Hanover, NH.

Tom’s of Maine, founded in 1970, was a successful maker of natural health care products that Tom and Kate Chappell sold to Colgate in 2006.  Big Bucks!