To inspire the growth of healthy communities by connecting people with a market for creativity and a successful model of economic development.

To educate others about the buy-local movement and offer exceptional customer service, while leading the way for socially-conscious businesses.

To foster an environment that helps small business people thrive, preserves our rural culture, and promotes a healthy work/life balance for our employees, who are at the core of what we do.

OUR STORY

Born in 1776, what Hannah Grimes didn’t make or grow, she bought from friends and neighbors.  Though not particularly famous or influential during her lifetime, she became immortalized as an advocate for small businesses and as a proprietor of well-made, locally-sourced goods when she inspired the namesake of our business, “Hannah Grimes Marketplace” over 200 years later.

It is in this spirit that we welcome you to Hannah Grimes Marketplace! We provide business support and a thriving market for local producers so you can experience our region through the hands of our most talented markers and growers.  Our Marketplace is currently home to over 200 local vendors including fine artists, glass blowers, soap makers, knitters, florists, farmers, jewelry makers, blacksmiths, woodworkers, and many more creative and passionate crafters.

OUR FOUNDER

Mary Ann Kristiansen was born and raised in Minnesota where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. After college, she moved to New York and worked for J. Walter Thompson Advertising and Merrill Lynch. While she was there, she earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from New York University.

She moved to New Hampshire in 1991 and bought Buckminster Farm in Roxbury. She started a home-based soap making business in 1991 and also gardens and raises sheep and chickens at her farm. Through her soap making, gardening, and farming contacts, she began to realize that there was a shortage of markets for locally-made products from small-scale businesses, while at the same time, there was a shortage of skills on the part of local producers to enter and succeed in those markets.

She started the Hannah Grimes Marketplace in 1997 to create a thriving marketplace for local products and to help the people who make those products build sustainable and successful businesses and added the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in 2006 to support the successful start-ups and growth of local small businesses

THE HANNAH GRIMES CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Since opening the Marketplace, the “Hannah Grimes” organization has grown to include The Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship. It educates, supports, and assists in the successful development of entrepreneurs who are committed to building a vibrant community. Through the incubator, our workshops, the annual CONNECT event, and many other programs, we help entrepreneurs overcome obstacles and develop the businesses they’ve always dreamed of. The center provides the space, tools, and connections that entrepreneurs need to build strong businesses and thriving local economies. The Center also offers a co-working space, business incubator, Business Lab, Radically Rural Summit, Young Professionals Network, and programs and coaching that support the start and growth of businesses.

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Meet our Board of Directors! The Board provides for our mission, including budgetary and financial guidance, governance oversight, and marketing assistance.

Our Directors are all active members of our local business community who volunteer their years of experience and expertise. The Marketplace Board of Directors consists of:

Julie Scheolzel – President – CEO at Greater Monadnock Collaborative

Chris Swanson – Vice President – Customer Service Manager at Whitney Brothers

Andrew Richardson – Treasurer – Vice President at Savings Bank of Walpole

Melissa Johnson – Secretary – Project Manager at C&S Wholesale Grocers

Beth Kosuk – Director – Marketing Consultant at Monadnock Food Co-op

Julianna Dodson - Director - Executive Director at Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship

Megan Miner – Director – Operations Director at Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship