Best Places
SHOPPING
Bountiful Boutiques
To guide you to the perfect gift or to inspire your own retail adventures, our fashion editor lists her own “secret” shopping spots in eight cities and towns COMPILED BY CHLOE BARCELOU
P
eople who like to shop (and who doesn’t?) tend to aim for big targets, like department stores, outlets for major brands or (for those places that still have them) shopping malls. And nothing can beat a great downtown for its variety of shops and other diversions. But the secret to finding the sweetest spots for the serious shopaholic is to think small — boutique small. A great boutique is a beacon because a small store stocked with an owner-curated array of fashionable attire is almost always surrounded by other such personable shops and cafés. Find a sweet boutique and you’re pretty much assured you are on a street or in a shopping district that will offer other surprises and delights.
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BEST PLACES 2020
Based on that philosophy, we enlisted New Hampshire Magazine’s fashion editor, Chloe Barcelou, to divulge one of her own most-guarded secrets: Her list of the small shops that fuel her own fashion needs and that supply her with the couture, shoes, accessories and bargain-basement sales items that she relies on to compose her fashion features. “Growing up, shopping with my mom was one of my favorite pastimes,” says Barcelou. “Shopping and fashion run deep in my lineage. That’s perhaps why I am a professional shopper now, and why I so deeply enjoy the feeling that comes with discovering a quaint boutique in a small town off a backroad.” She guarantees you’ll find many treasures and inspirations in the
shops listed here. “I understand why bigbox stores, with their convenient hours and low prices, are so popular, but they can’t hold a candle to a local shop that displays artisan finds, local and USA-made tags, knickknacks you didn’t know you needed, and staff who are kind, supportive and helpful.” Of course, she notes, an added bonus is knowing you’re supporting local communities and keeping these shops in business for the next avid shopper to find their own treasures and inspirations.
Bella Funk Boutique in Littleton
courtesy photos
Littleton’s charming Main Street is home to many locally owned shops.
