Business & Tech

Nova Merch Offers Many Treasures

West End boutique sells everything from clothing and hand-made jewelry to antique typewriters inside its space at Cafe Kilm.

Angela Papoutsys decided it was time to carve out a niche boutique last spring when she opened Nova Merch inside some rented space at Cafe Kilm.

The boutique sells everything from books and records to hand made jewelry, clothing and even older typewriters and the store's product line changes from week to week depending on what Portsmouth area residents choose to sell to the store and what local Portsmouth area artists create.

In this week's Port City Businesses column, Portsmouth Patch talked with Papoutsys about her boutique in this question and answer interview.

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Name: Nova Merch

Business online: http://www.facebook.com/NOVAMERCH

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Tel.: 603-944-0684

Business owner: Angela Papoutsy

Address: 163 Islington St.

Founded: April 2011

Number of employees: One full-time

Business hours: Monday – Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Every other Saturday night they are open until 8 p.m.)

Payments accepted: Cash, checks, Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover.

What separates this business from others: In this boutique, I just sell things that I find interesting to people so at any given time the merchandise can shift dramatically to art to more clothing or second hand things, depending on what is available. We also sell records, books, turntables, and other hand made, local items. We will also find stuff for people, too, and it is a very personalized business.

What do you like about doing business in Portsmouth: The people, people, people, people. The people are great, they really are. I just love to interact with people and it is the perfect job for me because I just love to talk and interact and socialize with different people.

How do you give back to the community: Because of the nature of this boutique, the items sold here come from local people and much of the money from the sales stays in the community. This is a real Shop Local type of business.

Future goals: I really want to work on having a greater online presence with a Web site to direct people to the business with a new Web site. I would also like to sell some of my own work such as photographs and cards at some point.


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