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He continued, “I can find someone, something, to go into the space. It’s big enough to accommodate something interesting, and it is in the middle of the Bank Street retail and dining loop.”
“Replacing a business there is not the worst challenge, but with the loss of a business person like Kathy, that’s hard to duplicate,” he said. “Kathy helped organize the Bank Street Festival last year, and they hosted the cocktail party announcing TheatreWorks’ new season and did other events at the store as well as getting involved in other things. She was great about creating connectivity.”
They closed the Great Barrington store last October, intending to concentrate on their West Hartford and New Milford stores.
“Overall, I see a tremendous amount of positive activity,” he said, mentioning that developers with projects in the works are seeing them move forward and numerous others have expressed interest in the town
Ms. Walsh had been a fashion coordinator for Bloomingdale’s, a buyer for Henri Bendel’s, and a founding buyer of the women’s department at Barney’s and later worked for a trend-setting New York home furnishings store, ABC Carpet and Home, according to Homeward Bound’s Web site, www.hb-interiors.com. Mr. Rothschild’s family (principals in the former Abraham & Straus) had a long history in retail in New York City, and he himself previously owned Housatonic Valley Publishing Company in New Milford.
The two-story Bank Street store, considered the flagship of the retail company that focused on “combining fashion sensibilities with love of home” and at one time operated in four locations, was originally expected to remain open, but it is not to be, said Walter (Trip) Rothschild, co-owner of the business with his wife, Kathy Walsh.
“People come in and say how much they like what we sell―and now how much they’ll miss us―but when we check our numbers, the sales don’t reflect that,” Mr. Rothschild said.
The news of Homeward Bound’s closure “came as a surprise but not a shock,” said Vincent Nolan, the town’s economic development supervisor.
Although some companies will remain successful and perhaps even thrive, the special focus of their retail business contributed to both Homeward Bound’s success and its recent difficulties.
Giving a general overview of business in town, Mr. Nolan said that “a lot of things are going on in New Milford.
“There wasn’t anything wrong with the business plan―people loved the store and praised the style and quality of the things we marketed, the staff, the service, and Kathy, who is the retail expert and made it all happen―but nobody could have forecast this economy,” said the veteran businessman, who had served as the chairman of the New Milford Economic Development Commission for five years in the early part of the last decade. “[It] is in really lousy shape, and I don’t think anybody is expecting a quick recovery. … Nobody has a crystal ball,herve leger skirts,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
“They expanded the marketplace and then contracted it quickly, as the economy declined,jimmy choos, and even though I thought they would probably be able to keep the New Milford location, it obviously hurt them,” he said.
“We’ll be out of the Bank Street space by mid-September or sooner,” he said, adding that they don’t know what they might be doing next.
Even if they had chosen different locations in the state, Mr. Rothschild acknowledged, their business situation would probably not be any different now.
Rothschild Bank Street LLC had owned the building at 20 Bank Street, Mr. Rothschild said, and had sold it last September to Bank Street Investments,canada goose parka, which owns other real estate in the downtown area.
In April 2006, they opened at 20 Bank Street in their home town, building on the success of their first venture. They opened their third store, on Blue Back Square in West Hartford, in November 2007, which was, Mr. Rothschild said, “at the beginning of the recession.”
The Bank Street store is now offering a 50 percent discount on its merchandise, and even though the annual Village Fair Days sponsored by the Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce will be taking place today and tomorrow just around the corner on the Village Green, Mr. Rothschild does not anticipate a burst of sales.
“New Milford is a great town,” he said. “It needs, however, to be more self-confident. People have to help retail, restaurants, the arts and other businesses in order for the town to thrive.”
Then, “the summer season in the Berkshires didn’t happen there for us,” he said regarding the location in Western Massachusetts, an area that has long been popular with weekenders and multiple-home owners as well as tourists.
But the loss of Homeward Bound to the community is greater than most people might realize, according to Mr. Nolan.
“It was the best location in town for that kind of business,louboutin shoes, and, frankly,the north face, I think we did a lot of things right,” Mr. Rothschild said, citing not only his wife’s savvy, born of a “long career in retail,” in finding quality, unique and interesting merchandise but also promoting an ecologically conscious lifestyle.
For a short period last year, when a potentially attractive rental opportunity became apparent in Madison, the couple opened a location in Madison.
“The numbers for Homeward Bound and other boutique stores like us are not good,” Mr. Rothschild said. “Things are dismal for almost everybody selling to people.”
The New Milford resident, who acknowledged that he and his wife are “very disappointed” about having to cease their retail business, said that they don’t have any plans for what they might do next.
“Something will be in there, I’m sure,” Mr. Nolan said. “Bank Street is the anchor to the retail market here, and I’m sure some investor will find it attractive.”
He added that “the only people looking to expand are low-end businesses that are competing on price and service, which is not what the downtown business district can do.”
“Village Fair Days is a disaster for the downtown businesses,” he said. “It drives away customers, rather than attracts people who attend the fair. It is not a plus for the Village Center and never has been.”
The Bank Street location, Mr. Nolan pointed out,canada goose outwear, is “prime for retail in town.”
“We opened and closed between April and June,” Mr. Rothschild said. “It was a good idea to try it there, but the space had some problems.”
The couple opened the initial Homeward Bound in Great Barrington, Mass., in May 2005,north face, with a retail vision that he attributed largely to his wife as well as “a vision to grow,” said Mr. Rothschild. “We grew it to four stores and were successful in that respect.”
Homeward Bound, one of the lynchpins of the downtown New Milford business scene, will be closing, having enjoyed a period of considerable popularity that led to expansion before being buffeted by the winds of a harsh economy that started to blow in late 2007.
“It took off for a rocket, and business was great for three months―people came in and they loved it a lot―and then we started to feel the effects of a bad economy. And it dragged on and on,” he said, noting that the Blue Black location would close Saturday.
However, he said he “still maintains optimism” regarding the town’s prospects.
“People are not willing to spend on anything that’s not a necessity, and we don’t sell necessities,” he said. “Clearly, we’re dependent on consumers who want to have something rather than have to have something,” he said.
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