Cedar Chest Featured in the Hampshire Gazette

February 22, 2007 - Kathleen Mellen, Hampshire Gazette

Phil Hueber of Cedar Chest, located in downtown Northampton, was recently featured in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Cedar Chest and Tortus Technologies launched mycedarchest.com in 2006.

An excerpt from the article:

Two weeks ago was inventory and clearance sale time at Cedar Chest in Northampton - when staff takes stock of what did and didn't sell well over the past year and makes plans for the next.

For owner Phil Hueber, who bought the store at Thornes Marketplace in May 2005, it marked the end of a whirlwind, two-year entree into the world of retail.

When Hueber, 49, bought the Cedar Chest, a specialty shop that features items from bathroom fixtures and linens to lamps, tableware and greeting cards, he had never before owned a retail business. True, he and his wife, Judy, have owned and operated a 15-room inn and 50-seat restaurant in Chesterfield, N.H., for the past 20 years.

But the closest Hueber had come to working in retail was his co-ownership some time ago of a tiny business that produced and sold college commencement videos. Most recently, he had been the manager of a restaurant and theater in Brattleboro, Vt.

Yet owning a business is what he's good at, he says. Beginning with a visit to CBI, a business brokerage firm in Manchester, N.H., he began to search for a new venture. There he learned about a number of possibilities, including a small manufacturing firm, a printing company, an insulation installation business and - of course - Cedar Chest.

The article is available through the Hampshire Gazette's website, gazettenet.com. A paid subscription is required to view the full article.