Editor’s note: This story by Caleigh Cross was first published in the Stowe Reporter on April 6.
[T]he Vermont Country Store team got a sense of “which way the wind blows,” as owner Eliot Orton put it.
The team may not have left with a firm “yes” from the Stowe Development Review Board on its development plans for Mountain Road, but wasn’t looking for one quite yet.
The company had a conversation with Stowe residents and the board about whether the Vermont Country Store operation would be welcome.
The business, owned by brothers Eliot, Cabot and Gardner Orton and their father, Lyman Orton, hasn’t opened a store in 50 years, Eliot Orton said. The original store was in Weston; the “new one” is in Rockingham, just south of Bellows Falls.
For the last decade, the brothers have been looking for a good spot in northern Vermont for a third store.
“Community is a big part of our decision. … We wanted to be in a place we wanted to stay in and be,” Eliot Orton said. “Our stores represent a bit of what Vermont represents — going back in time.”
He described the Vermont Country Store as “purveyors of the practical and hard to find.”
The company was asking the development review board for a partial, conditional review. It has an agreement to buy the property where Stowe Motel and Snowdrift are located on the Mountain Road. The store needs a traffic study and a storm water study before it can get full town approval — and then it will buy the property.
Vermont Country Store is proposing one large building, nearly 17,000 square feet, that will house three retail spaces.
The three-store proposal is an effort to comply with town policies limiting retail stores to a maximum of 5,000 square feet. That requirement was adopted to prevent big-box stores such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot from opening in Stowe.
“Portioning out our business is not standard practice for us,” acknowledged Geof Brown, executive vice president and chief storekeeper at Vermont Country Store. Brown asked the board to look at this departure from the ordinary as a sign of the Ortons’ willingness to work within town parameters.
One store will have an entrance from Mountain Road and a second store entrance will face Luce Hill Road. The third store will be constructed later.
That ruffled some feathers among the 60 or so people at the meeting, who thought the three-store plan was just a way to sidestep the zoning regulations. Would this set a precedent to allow a Wal-Mart to come to Stowe, they wondered?
Graham Mink, who owns the building at 109 Main St. where his wife, Cristina, runs Country Store on Main, said the plan is “directly opposed” to zoning regulations. “They’re trying to circumvent the regulations and alter the scale and type of development allowed” in town.
Mink also thinks the Vermont Country Store would “severely hurt the recently revitalized Stowe village” by making it hard for smaller local businesses to compete.
Orton countered Mink’s concerns.
“Would a Wal-Mart come in and split up into 20 different stores?” he asked. “Probably not. … When we first encountered (the 5,000-square-foot retail rule), we thought, ‘How are we going to deal with that?’ We want to stick with the letter of the law. We’re not trying to hide anything. We put together a design splitting this up” to adhere to the zoning laws.
Stowe businesses need not worry too much about retail competition, Orton said. “We’re not going to put up a sign that says, ‘Cheapest Maple in Town.’”
“My biggest concern is that our village has been empty and sad,” said Trudy Trombley, who owns Stowe Mercantile, the Boutique and Stowe Public House with her husband, Marc Sherman. “The biggest problem is getting people off Mountain Road. … Our businesses all have a story. All of us have worked very hard.”
Trombley thinks the Ortons’ large, bustling store on Mountain Road will make people less likely to want to navigate Mountain Road traffic to the village.
“I just hate to see that big of a store” come to town, Trombley said. “I don’t want to lose what our village has worked hard for.”
Other Stowe residents were enthusiastic about the proposed stores, such as Jed Lipsky, who says he knew the founding proprietor, Orton brothers’ grandfather Vrest Orton.
“When I hear them talk about what Vermont Country Store does in Rockingham,” like supporting community events and organizations, “that attracts me,” Lipsky said. “Our town plan cannot be based on protectionism. That’s not really the American way. No one’s looking to bring big-box stores to Stowe.”
Beth Gadbois backed Lipsky up.
“I own three businesses in Stowe,” she said, “and I believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. I couldn’t be more thrilled you’ve chosen our town. We have a tendency in Stowe that drives me bananas toward elitism. Competition is the American way.”
Talk then turned to traffic.
“We have no opinions on the store,” said the Rev. Rick Swanson, pastor of St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church, which sits directly at the intersection of Mountain Road and Luce Hill Road.
“You can barely get onto Mountain Road from Luce Hill Road for all the traffic,” Swanson said. “I just hope you’ll take traffic into serious consideration.”
The development review board tabled the discussion after four hours. The board will discuss the plan again on June 20, when the Vermont Country Store team will be back for round two.
