The owners of Wellington’s Marketplace in downtown Concord are planning a cross-country move and looking to sell their North Main Street business as soon as this month.
Debra and Randy Barnes are juggling a variety of tasks as they uproot for Randy’s new job – selling their business and their Bow home and finding a place to live in New Mexico – and they’re hoping to take one of the balls out of the air as soon as possible.
“We still have to do some traveling there to see the area. There’s a lot of steps that need to be taken,” Debra Barnes said. “We can’t do that while still owning the business. What we’re trying to do is go about (the sale) as quickly as we can.”
Barnes prides herself on the fact that the wines and cheeses she sells on the retail side of the three-year-old business can’t be found anywhere else in the city – and the same goes for a number of other curiosities they carry.
For instance, she said, when the New York Times posted a recipe recently that called for preserved lemons, a surprising number of people turned to her with their ingredient lists in hand.
“I swear to God, I had like 10 or 15 customers in a week asking for preserved lemons,” she said. “I had a source for them and I brought them in.”
The restaurant side of the business, which specializes in lunchtime sandwiches, soups and salads, boasts near-perfect reviews online.
One sandwich lover from Boston wrote on Yelp that the classic Italian he had at Wellington’s last summer was the best he’s had.
“Sandwiches are a large part of my life,” he wrote, “and these are the best I’ve found.”
Barnes said she’s hoping to find a new owner who’s interested in keeping the business running – and potentially changing hands as soon as Market Days, when they’re planning a trip to Randy’s native Arizona and New Mexico.
“We’ve been very fortunate that Concord and the surrounding areas have really supported us,” she said. “I feel – and from everything they tell us – we’ve really created something that’s worth keeping on Main Street.”
The Barneses said they estimate their business to be worth about $150,000, but they’re asking $75,000 for the assets, inventory and brand.
“Given our particular situation, we’re not looking to sell the business necessarily for what it’s worth,” Randy Barnes said, “but rather making it affordable for someone who wants to own a small business on Main Street, where they can get in for a reasonable price and start making money on the first day.”
Barnes, who works full-time in information technology, said he was offered a “golden opportunity” in New Mexico that is driving the move. Debra Barnes’s degree and passion is in the culinary arts, however, and she said the move won’t stop that.
“I have no doubt, once we get settled and figured out, as life continues, I’m sure I’ll delve back into the food world at some point,” she said.
Anyone who’s interested in the business should stop in to learn more, she said.
A downtown barbershop is planning to close down Monroe Street this weekend for a block party and fundraiser to benefit the Pope Memorial SPCA of Concord-Merrimack County.
Lucky’s Barbershop owner James Craggy said he and one of his barbers, James Carroll, have two rescue dogs each and set out last year to raise some money on behalf of the adoption center.
That’s how they came to line up a row of adoptable dogs and other animals in front of the South State Street barbershop – complete with a puppy kissing both.
This year, for the second annual event, they’re upping the ante with a block party on the adjacent Monroe Street. Craggy said residents are welcome to bring their dogs, meet the animals for adoption or just hang out in the neighborhood.
Growing up in Concord, he said, he remembers certain neighborhoods that always had block parties, and it’s been something he’s wanted to bring to his block between downtown and the South End.
“For the last decade since I’ve been in the neighborhood, I’ve always wanted to do a block party,” he said, noting that sometimes even next-door neighbors don’t have a good opportunity to meet. “We just want everybody to come and hang out, you know?”
There will be plenty to do, with training seminars, pet goodie bags, “doggie Olympics,” a food truck, a raffle and fundraising T-shirts.
Craggy said he’s not yet sure how many adoptable animals will be there, but he’s hoping for as many as possible.
“That’s our biggest thing,” he said. “We would love to find forever homes for as many animals as we possibly can. Last year, we were like, ‘Open the gates. Bring ’em all.’ ”
The event will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monroe Street.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)