50% off all Toys - Store is still Full of great items

South Berwick's Little Hat shifts to online sales only; store closes Sunday

By JASON CLAFFEY
jclaffey@fosters.com


Saturday, May 30, 2009
SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — A 5-year-old girl was in The Little Hat Company Thursday when she overheard a conversation between her mother and owner Jen Houghton about how the store is closing.

The girl started crying.

"No! The Little Hat Company can't close," Houghton recalled the sobbing child as saying.

Houghton herself was nearly brought to tears.

After nearly three years in downtown South Berwick, The Little Hat Company is shuttering its storefront due to slumping sales caused in part by the recession. The company will live on, however, as it will retain its website, www.thelittlehatcompany.com. Only hats will be sold on the site — unlike the store, which sold a variety of toys and crafts.

Houghton sees it as returning to the company's roots. She opened the store in November 2006, exclusively selling children's hats made by stay-at-home moms.

"That's how we started," she said. "Our goal is to focus on the hats to build the brand and the company back up."

The store's last day will be Sunday. Currently, everything is being sold half-off.

"It's sad. But I had to do this," Houghton said.

Sales began plummeting last August, as customers cut spending when the recession took hold. Another factor was a federal lead testing law for children's products that was scheduled to go into effect February.

Houghton, like many small crafters across the country, couldn't afford to pay for the testing, so she held a fire sale to get rid of her children's products. A federal commission then issued a last-minute reprieve and delayed enforcing the law, but the damage had been done.

"It's just hard times," Houghton said.

The company's website will be redesigned June 8 and feature eight new hat styles.

Houghton said she's determined to turn Little Hat into a "national brand," especially after seeing the young girl cry.

"It made me sad but it also made me more determined to make it work," she said.

Thanks to the236diner.com - They have captured a chapter in our story

Please visit the236diner to keep informed about the going ons in South Berwick. Here is an excerpt that helped us reach out to our friends and customers. Thank you for all of your help Molly and beautiful gift with words.

Little Hat Company store closing to focus on hats
May 27th, 2009 by Molly Colman.
This news from Jennifer Houghton, owner of Little Hat Company today:

Making Room for Hats


50% off all toys at The Little Hat Company – Help us Spread the Word

Thursday, May 28th from 12:00 – 7:00 pm
Friday 29th from 4:00 – 9:00pm
& Sunday 31st from 10:00 –5:00pm

Now is your chance to buy dollhouses, train tables, kitchens, and all of our great toys for half price. The Little Hat Company is going back to its roots and focusing on building our hat business from South Berwick, ME. We are moving our business online in order to stay focused and also more importantly to be with our children while they are still young. We are very thankful for all the support you have showed our toy store for the past 2 ½ years. We will be relaunching our website with our new styles and fabrics at the first of June. Take a look www.thelittlehatcompany.com . We will also have a booth at The Strawberry Festival on the last Saturday in June and can’t wait to show you the new adult Strawberry Lid that Deb created for the 5k road race.

Posted in: Businesses, buy local.
Tagged: business · buy local


← Wildlife Center Seeks VolunteersNice People doing Good Things →4 Comments on “Little Hat Company store closing to focus on hats”
#1 pfousek
on May 29th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I’m sad to hear that The Little Hat Company is closing it’s store. In my opinion, The Little Hat Company brought character to South Berwick’s little downtown and will definitely be missed.

#2 Molly Colman
on May 29th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I am sad too. It has been a great presence in the downtown. I will miss the herd of stuffed animals and the colorful flag that really added cheer to the downtown. I’m happy though that Little Hat will continue to grow as an online business. It’s gotten great national recognition. I wish Jen and her team the best as they move on to the next phase of their business.

#3 Mary Vaughn
on May 29th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I am sorry to see The Little Hat Company closing it’s doors. It has been such a bright spot as you drive through or walk in town. The store had a charming, magical quality for children and adults alike. Best of luck to Jen and all her talented staff on their future endeavors. I too will miss the colorful flag and stuffed animals as part of the downtown landscape.

#4 Little Hatter
on May 30th, 2009 at 12:15 am
I am sad that I am not going to be on Main Street to put the dogs out each day and raise the ladybug flag. There is something magical about the corner of Portland & Main - it was there before we even moved in. We have felt so fortunate to be a part of the downtown and know that huge things are in its future just around the corner. I have never felt at home as much as I do in South Berwick and yes I am a “NH” girl from an even smaller community with only one retail store in its center which hasn’t been opened since I was in 8th grade.

It’s not the individual stores that make up a town its the collection of businesses that can hang on through anything and it’s those store keepers that I truly admire. Abby has decorated our Main Street long before we opened and she will be here for my kids’ prom. The chinese & pizza places are my families main stay for late night dinners and will always be! Anna & Aaron ask for a Jones soda from Nature’s Way as a special treat when I’m on my way home from closing the store. The Catered Event has the coolest ice cubes in town - have you ever ordered one of Marsha’s ice coffees?

How cool is it that South Berwick has one of the remaining few privately owned pharmacies in the country. I had no clue how remarkable it is until my aunt and uncle filled us in. Kudos to Richard and his staff.

Where was the first place that we thought of going as we closed Little Hat for one of the last times tonight? Pepperlands of course, Lindsay was right there with his peculiar smile that we’ve all grown to appreciate. It was the toast of the glasses to a few of us Little Hatters and of course an order of Crab Cakes, Nachos, and Soup. We’ve laughed, cried, and freaked out many a times there over Little Hat and I’m sure we’re not done.

The best thing about our town? Really and truly the best thing? Our kids! I had so much fun watching them play today as their parents loaded up on holiday gifts and questioning our decision not out of judgement but out of kindness and care. One little girl started crying and said she didn’t want us to close. It made me really sad, not regretting our decision but knowing how she was feeling. It also made me hopeful knowing that against all opinions in the beginning of being on “the other” side of Main Street - we were able to create a place that people were willing to cross the street for…if the economy had held out I wouldn’t be typing this, but then we wouldn’t be shifting the focus back to the hats.

Please know that I tried everything that I could to keep our little store open…I’ve met so many wonderful people and shared way too many personal thoughts and stories. I will miss the holidays the most. Please keep an eye and ear out for us as we dig in deep to keep the hats growing and one day in the near future we will be able to open a store again and perhaps just maybe The Little Hat Company will sell hats.

Back to the Basics

The Little Hat Company has decided what it wants to be when it grows up. It wants to become a national brand and keep all of its manufacturing in South Berwick, Maine along with its business headquarters. Little Hats have been shipped out over the globe to almost every continent over the past three years without it being our single focus. Now it's time for us to get serious and devote our time and energies into creating the best online shopping experience for hats of all sizes and meant for all ages.

We have made a team decision that building The Little Hat Brand is truly what our company is about and what it originally began as in 2006. It's back to the basics for The Little Hatters doing what we know best 'creating, making, and selling beautifully crafted hats in South Berwick'

Our new designs and swatches will be available at our online storefront as of June 2009. We will be keeping you up todate of our progress as our hats continue to spread out across the globe and hope that you will be okay with our decision to make the hats the main focus of our company.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, ideas, or thoughts.

Best Wishes,

Jen Houghton
Founder
The Little Hat Company
www.thelittlehatcompany.com
jen@thelittlehatcompany.com
207-450-8441

This is for you Kimberly & Aunt Barbara

Happy Birthday to you both and know that all that I do and try to do you are both always in my thoughts. Your time on earth was much too quick and I promise to never take one moment for granted. I promise to reach out with both hands and take hold of all that is good in your memories.

Your laughter and giggles will forever ring in my ears and I carry your faces with me always. This year we walked with Avon and will ride with Seacoast Safari. Make sure you send down some energy for that crazy bike ride.

I will always love you both!

Life is a Climb- Thank you Miley Cyrus

You know in life when you pick up a piece of information in an unexpected place and it turns your life upside down? Well how is it that during an evening of Hannah Montanna in Newington with Sue, Katherine, and Anna I finally figure what I want to be when I grow up? It is almost like it's been on the tip of your tongue and everyone around you has been nudging you, supporting you, and slapping you to get you to wake up from whatever coma induced state you've been existing in for the past months or so.

When you wake up it's a major DAH moment and somehow without warning your cup is filled up again and you are ready to do battle or at least to sell hats. Somewhere along the journey I had forgotten what had started it in the first place. We all have our mountains to climb in life. No mountain is greater than another - perspective is an amazing fact of life. In fact the journeys are all very similiar filled with pain, fear, doubt, sadness, vulnerability, glimpses of hope, faith, joy, friendship, learning curves, and love. I guess if I have learned anything is choose your damn mountain in life and then committ to it with all your heart. If you keep giving up one mountain for another before you've fully climbed it you won't be able to enjoy the view.

Oh and by the way for those of you who are keeping score - I've only made it up a quarter of the way...it all gets interesting from here. Send me a postcard of your mountain and journey. I'd love to swap stories.

A Tip of the Hat for South Berwick's 'The Little Hat Company'

A tip of the hat for South Berwick's 'The Little Hat Company'

Its product included in Emmy gift bags coordinated by Portsmouth native

By JASON CLAFFEY jclaffey@fosters.com

Friday, May 15, 2009

The Little Hat Company owner Jen Houghton holds the "Cog" hat, featured on NBC's "Today" show Thursday. The hat was included in gift bags given to the Daytime Emmy Awards nominees Thursday in New York City. Claffey/ Democrat photo * Order a print of this photo

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — When Rachel Ray, Ellen DeGeneres, and Tyra Banks were handed gift bags Thursday night during the Daytime Emmy Awards nomination party in New York, inside they could find bucket hats made by none other than the The Little Hat Company.

And owner Jen Houghton, whose store was nearly forced out of business earlier this year because of a federal lead testing law, couldn't be happier.

"Talk about having nine lives," Houghton said Thursday from her store's location in downtown South Berwick.

The gift bag placement is a major coup for the company, following a 1,000-unit order for commemorative hats it secured last year for the commissioning of the USS New Hampshire submarine.

Little Hat made about 160 "Cog" hats — short for incognito, as the purpose of the hats is to hide celebrities' faces — for the Emmy gift bags. Houghton secured the order after speaking with Val Wilson, co-owner of Bedford-based Off the Wall Promotions, at a recent Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce event. Wilson's company won a contract to make gift bags for both the Daytime Emmy and regular Emmy Awards this year.

The gift bags were featured on Thursday's "Today" show on NBC, and one of the items hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb picked out was the Cog hat.

Houghton called it "unbelievable."

"We want to become a national brand," she said, adding there's "no better way" to achieve that than by having celebrities use her product.

"Celebrities create trends," Houghton said. "We want them to create a trend with the Cog hat."

She said she originally planned to make children's hats for the gift bags, but instead made adult ones because a federal law requiring lead testing of all children's products was scheduled to go into effect earlier this year. But after an outcry from small business owners like Houghton, who said they couldn't afford the expensive testing costs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission delayed enforcing the law by a year.

Houghton said her company might make another order of hats — possibly up to 2,000 — for the regular Emmy Awards later this year.

Little Hat mingles with Daytime Celebrites

Seacoast products part of 'swag bags' for Emmy awards

Elaborate swag bags produced by Val Wilson and Mike Litson of Off The Wall Promotios for the 36th annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The bags are filled with beach vacations and products from the the Seacoast area.Rich Beauchesne photo

By Jeanné McCartin

news@seacoastonline.com

May 14, 2009 6:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH — Val Wilson, a Portsmouth native, has bagged a big one. Off the Wall Promotions, the business she and her husband, Mike Liston, own and operate in Bedford, landed the gift bags account for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy Awards.

"This is a good opportunity that just got in front of us," Wilson said.

The couple is in New York City delivering and promoting the bags for tonight's Daytime Emmy Nomination Party at Hearst Towers. This morning, their bags, which include products from six New Hampshire businesses, will be featured on the fourth segment of NBC's "Today" show.

Off The Wall's National Academy contract runs through 2010 and includes the nomination party and the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles in September. The big-deal bag job literally landed in their laps, Wilson said.

"Our company has worked with NBC for the last few years. And a guy from NBC (Frank J. Radice) recently became president of the Academy. He thought of us for the gift bags ...; and called us back in February," she said. "We never even tried for it. It was an invitation. ...; I literally broke into tears. I could not believe such a huge project would just come to us. But it's a reality."

Off The Wall hauled 160 oversized micro-fiber yoga bags to tonight's New York City event, each valued at $2,500. "We put it together, we present it and actually give it to the celebrities and VIPs," Wilson said.

Gifts include a night in a Bermuda resort and another in Key West, Fla., on a private island. There's an airline voucher, books, truffle oil, and items from New Hampshire and Seacoast companies.

It made sense to share their good fortune with other businesses, Wilson said. The first to come to mind was The Little Hat Company in South Berwick, Maine. Wilson said she met the owners at a Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce dinner and was impressed.

"We really liked them. They're young entrepreneurs ...; so on fire," Wilson said. "We thought they might be good candidates. Their enthusiasm inspired us to go for other New Hampshire companies."

Jennifer Houghton, Little Hat's founder and co-owner, said the opportunity would help build "brand" for the small company.

"We really need a high-profile person to fall in love with the hat, and say, 'This is the next up-and-coming thing,'" Houghton said. "The hats are made in the United States, by at-home moms, are of beautiful quality, and the company betters our own situations and our community's."

The company created the Cog Hat, as in "incognito," specifically for the bag.

"A huge piece of being included is the validation," Houghton said. "It builds your own story."

Livin' Out Loud, a Hampstead business, is also in the bag, with T-shirts.

LunaChics of Exeter, a clothing and accessories shop owned by Dana DeNiro of Rye, also has a product in the bags.

"I chose a boy-short; basically, it's undergarments — not traditional," DeNiro said. "It was tricky to find a product that doesn't just sit in the bag."

DeNiro recently redesigned her Web site, and this was a perfect opportunity to help launch it. Each piece carries the site address. "For the investment, it's great advertisement," she said.

Other state companies represented are Weeping Willow Designs of Hopkinton, Ava Marie Chocolates of Peterborough and Just Naturals of Amherst.

The September Emmy Awards will require 2,000 bags for guests and 60 for presenters. Off the Wall hopes to include more New Hampshire businesses. Participating businesses pay a product fee for inclusion. The nomination party package includes local and national television exposure, as well as additional regional news, and they will be on display at tonight's event.

"I can see ('Today' show celebrities) having a good time pulling out the hat, and the underwear is interesting," Wilson said. "This is all a great opportunity."

For more information, visit www.offthewallgifts.com.

Maine Merchants Association Supports The Little Hat Company

Maine Merchants Association The Voice of Maine's Merchants NBC Today Show Highlights Maine Product May 13, 2009

Dear Jen, In late 2008, we first met Jen Houghton from The Little Hat Company in South Berwick. She was one of the many Maine companies that were unintentionally caught up in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Her Maine-made products would have had to undergo expensive product testing for federal compliance until a last minute stay of enforcement enabled them to continue selling their hats. The CPSIA got Jen involved and she helped get the word out about this bill. Her involvement had a direct role in the stay of enforcement and many Maine product producers breathed a sigh of relief in February. I am pleased to share some good news about The Little Hat Company. Because of the CPSIA, Jen started diversifying their product line to include hats. Their new Cog hat was selected to be included in the Daytime Emmy Nominee Gifts Bags. The event is tomorrow in New York City. Each nominee is receiving a Maine-made Cog hat. Jen and her team worked long hours to produce this new hat and she just found out that the hat will be on NBC's The Today Show with Houda & Kathie Lee tomorrow morning between 10 and 11 AM. Congratulations to Jen and The Little Hat Company team. Great news for them and for Maine-made products. Sincerely, Curtis Picard Executive Director curtis@mainemerchants.org

We're off to the Daytime Emmys in NYC - well at least the Cog hat is!

Deb & Cathie have been sewing around the clock refusing to let time beat them. Sue, our best cutter, has been busily making sure that their pipeline is full of pieces to sew just in time. It's been a mad dash of sorts to make sure our new Cog hat is ready for its unveiling in the Daytime Emmy Nominee Gift Bag for next week.

Hanna dropped off the Cog tag which will be attached to each and every lid being carefully placed in a celebrities gift bag ( Oprah? Ellen? Kelly Ripper? ) They are absolutely beautiful and compliment the design of the Cog perfectly. Hanna has been with us along growing the business and building the brand into an International profile that is easily recognizable and identified with - thank you Hanna.
Give Hanna a call if your brand needs a tune up.

Hanna Bulger

Good Girl Graphics

207-384-2545 Phone

207-384-4145 Fax

94 Old Fields Road

South Berwick, ME 03908

Newcastle Commons is not just about the beach.

Newcastle Commons is a great place to take a load off your feet and let you mind quietly wander. May I simply remind you to make sure you cover your noggin as falling asleep thinking in the sun may cause your part or scalp (if you are bald) to get a little toasty.

New Castle Commons is located in New Castle New Hampshire by Wentworth by the Sea. A beautiful spot for families of all ages to enjoy the ocean, the beach, the grassy meadow, and the beautiful kid's playland. It also has bathrooms and tons of parking!

We come in two's...our newest fabrics are starting to appear

I post these pictures with great pride as we are moving into our 4th summer of creating hand crafted lids for South Berwick and the rest of the world. This is our newest creation the "beachcomber lid" in our oxford ticking and Row your boat fabrics. It always comes back to the hats. I can't wait to share with you the new bucket lids that Deb has designed and of course we are bringing back our original stroller lids for a 4th season - who can even believe it? Next week our Cog Hat goes out into the Emmy gift bags. Cross your fingers, hold your breath, and dream big because that's what all the little hatters are doing. Fabric swatches are available in our store if you can't wait for Strawberry Festival to get your new lids.

Happy May Day everyone- Don't forget to grab your hat on the way out the door.

Love,
Jen