By Jack Rooney
THE KEENE SENTINEL
When David Wichland began working at his family business, Miller Bros.-Newton, as a high-schooler 62 years ago, Keene’s Main Street had seven men’s clothing stores, pretty much all of which had their own tailor.
“And I can name them, if you want,” Wichland, 75, said with a smile, rattling off names like Fay M. Smith, Delancey and Bergeron’s.
But with Wichland, an Elm City resident, ready to retire, Miller Bros.-Newton is set to close in late April after nearly 178 years in business, leaving downtown Keene without a single haberdashery.
“Nobody does what we do much anymore,” said Bruce Wichland, David’s nephew and co-owner of the full-service menswear shop. “So it’s going to be a loss. But things evolve, things change.”
The Wichlands — whose family has been in the business since David’s father, William J., joined in 1916 — stress that the decision to close isn’t a financial one. In fact, they say, business has never been better than the last year or so, as people came out of the initial COVID-19 wave wanting to look their best.
“It’s not that business is bad by any means now,” Bruce, 58, of Munsonville, said. “It’s just that we’re feeling that maybe it’s time we finish on top.”
Selling the business could have been an option, Bruce Wichland said — and still could be before the planned April 22 closure — but the family does not want to risk the great reputation the store has built throughout its long history.
“It’s kind of tough to get somebody to just step in and do what we do,” said Bruce, who’s been with the company for 40 years. “It’s a tough thing. And we’ve had a good thing, and so we don’t want to tarnish that. We feel it’s been a great run, and it’s time to turn the page, I guess.”
Miller Bros.-Newton traces its history back to 1844, when the first iteration of the store opened in downtown Keene. The shop takes its name from the three Miller brothers, each of whom opened a men’s clothing store in the mid-1800s, in Newport and Keene in New Hampshire and one in Springfield, Vt. Newton is a nod to William Newton, a shirt salesman who married the widow of the Miller brother in Keene.
David’s father, William Wichland, bought the business in 1947, when it was near the entrance of the old Latchis Theatre on Main Street, now the location of a Subway sandwich shop. The store moved to what would later become the Apothecary’s longtime location, and in 1981, moved again to its present location at 105 Main St., according to previous Sentinel reporting.
Miller Bros.-Newton opened a Brattleboro store in 1995, but that location closed in 2018, when David’s older brother, John, retired. At the time, Bruce Wichland told The Sentinel that the store’s staff was stretched too thin to handle both shops.
That’s also a factor in the decision to shutter the Keene store now, the Wichlands said. The shop has five employees, including David and Bruce, but that’s at least two workers short of where they’d like to be.
“We’ve got tremendous help right now, but everybody’s been working really hard, and going forward it’s just trying to find the right people to work — that’s the problem,” Bruce said.
And with the boom in business since last May — when large events like weddings and graduations began returning in full swing — the staffing situation has led to long hours for the employees.
“We couldn’t take vacations, we didn’t have any time off,” David said. “It’s just been steady business for the last eight months, 10 months. I’m just getting a little tired.”
David Wichland owns the building — which also has 10 apartments on the second floor — with his brothers, John and Robert, and they plan to lease the space to another business. But since they’re just announcing the closure of their own business, they haven’t yet begun exploring options for a new tenant.
“We could get interest this weekend, who knows?” Bruce said. “A Main Street location, a store this size, I’m sure there’s going to be interest.”
In the meantime, the Wichlands say the impending closure is bittersweet for them, and their generations of customers.
“I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions. I know it’s the right thing to do, but it’s just going to be tough,” Bruce said, adding that his family is deeply grateful for the store’s loyal clients.
But, he said he expects those longtime customers will accept the difficult decision to close.
“They’ve seen David in the stores for years,” Bruce said. “It’s a common question, ‘When are you going to slow down?’ And we probably wouldn’t unless we made an effort to do something like this. So I think our customers will understand.”
In retirement, “I’m going to try and enjoy myself,” David said, adding that he’s especially fond of spending time outdoors, including on Granite Lake, and traveling. Bruce said he doesn’t plan to retire yet, but is taking some time to figure out his next step.
The closure of Miller Bros.-Newton will leave the Monadnock Region without a dedicated menswear store, the Wichlands said.
“But there’s great opportunity for people in a business like this,” David said. “If it’s done right, if you take care of people and take care of their needs and stuff like that. I think we’ve done a good job of it over the years.”
“We’re going out on top,” Bruce added.
This article is being shared by a partner in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.