A new year and new businesses coming to the Green, and more

Editor’s Note: Last week The Chester Telegraph took a look at what seems to be an uptick in Chester business activity through the lens of the hospitality sector – namely restaurants. This week’s focus is on what’s happening in the retail marketplace beginning with movement on the Green.

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Collected Ltd., an antique and home decor shop currently located within Sugar Bob’s in the former home of the Baba A Louis bakery, will be moving to the Green.

Last spring, as Sugar Bob’s cafe was being built out, space for Collected Ltd. became smaller. “We saw the writing on the wall and started to look for space in” Chester, said Collected co-owner Alison Cummings.  “But there were not a lot of spaces in town and especially on the Green.”

About this Series

• Nov. 4 – Restaurant openings point to business revival in Chester
• Nov. 12 – A new year and new businesses coming to the Green
• Nov. 19 – New childcare,  innovative farming and art and paper conservation

Collected, co-owned by three long-time friends, had been searching for a larger space that would also reflect their style aesthetic in a home-like atmosphere. So Cummings has been setting out to buy 78 The Common, the open-porch retail space across the alley from the former Free Range restaurant.

Cummings and partners Lisa McNealus and Alice Christopher were attracted to the building by features like high ceilings and a fireplace — and, of course, more space.

78 The Common is owned Sharon Baker of Sharon’s on the Common. But the sale was delayed because Baker’s building, which sits at the end of the short alleyway and also houses her Chester Candy Co.,  shares the lot with the future Collect Ltd. building. The land had to be surveyed to be subdivided, which became complicated and time consuming — especially with land records that date way back in Chester’s past.

“We wrote the contract in May,” says Cummings.

The trio wanted to be in their new digs this fall or Christmas, but as is stands the closing will be in the new year. At that point, the trio plan to clear out the first floor and make the shop look like a home decorated with the art, antiques and objects that they did not have room for at Sugar Bob’s.

Among problems the move will resolve, said Cummings, is the lack of shelf- and wall-space to display smaller objects and artwork. “So they wind up on the antique furniture, making it hard to see them,” said Cummings, who noted that she has a barn full of furniture she will bring from her Windham home.

In addition to selling antiques — as her mother did — Cummings is a real estate broker who plans to move her office to the second floor of her new building, where it will be easier to work and watch the store when her partners are unavailable.

Until then, the three partners have “great plans for a pretty major facelift” inside and out.

A rehab and new tenants at the other end of the Green

The rambling building at 12 Common St. — originally built as a house in the early 19th century — has had several incarnations including as the town’s telephone exchange before centralized switching, a restaurant and bar in the 1970s and, until a few years ago, Country Treasures Quilt Shop, a mecca for quilters.

Last year, Crystal Langer, who lives in Connecticut and Andover, bought the building, which currently houses Songbird Wellness Apothecary with the idea of revitalizing it expanding the number of businesses it can house to three. Langer also sees a restaurant and farm-to-table market with parking in the rear.

Langer plans to do what she calls “foundational work” and that’s literally the case since part of the structure has no foundation. She also wants to replace the vinyl siding with cedar, update the windows, signs and lighting and make the front porch more inviting. All of this involves bringing up to code the commercial space and the second floor apartment.

The building was selected as one of 34 projects within 23 of Vermont’s designated downtown and village centers to receive state tax credits for rehabilitation and revitalization. Langer’s project has a total cost of $333,000 with a tax credit of $120,000, and three years to complete the work.

Apart from Songbird Wellness, which will be leaving at the end of the year, the building houses Amanda McAllister Wellness. McAllister is a  massage therapist and personal trainer who also offers a sound therapy called Biofield Tuning. Formerly working in Springfield, she moved her practice to Chester in September and is provides massage therapy 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Tuesdays through Fridays.

In January, Thyme & Again Apothecary and Wellness, owned and run by Andover residents Michelle Golden and her daughter Vaylyn, will replace Songbird Wellness. Michelle Golden says it’s a family affair with support from her husband Charlie and other daughter Jayda. The shop will continue to offer bulk herbs, teas, extracts and self-care products along with books, Vermont made products, local honey and essential oils. In the future, she hopes to be offering workshops on wellness, self-care and mental health.

Golden hopes to be open the first or second week of January and will try out a schedule starting with 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Wednesdays through Sundays.

Changes at DaVallia and a bookstore on the horizon

An arm injury earlier this year made it impossible for Michael Alon to continue making custom furninture so he has been managing the gallery at DaVallia, 39 North St.,  full-time, connecting with people and sharing the stories behind the art with them. While his arm continues to heal, Alon is learning to paint for the first time and his wife, Jessie Alon, has returned to jewelry making.

“This time of change has reminded us why we started DaVallia in the first place,” said Michael Alon. “It’s always been about creativity, connection, and finding beauty in new directions.”

For more information on the gallery located in the historic Chester Stone Village, click here.

On the horizon, Jason and Molly Haley Staley, who have owned a house in the Stone Village for a couple of years, bought the dark tan-pink house at 472 Main St. that at one time had been owned by NewsBank and are moving to Chester full time.

They intend to open a bookstore in a large meeting space/conference room at the very back, which boasts parking and its own entrance. The Haleys met with the Development Review Board earlier this year to get a feasibility check and now believe they can move forward.