A Woman's Touch Is the Theme in Shelburne, Vermont

(NECN: Anya Huneke) - A woman's touch is what you'll likely get if you shop or dine in Shelburne, Vermont. In the town center, a large number of the local shops and restaurants are owned or co-owned by women.


 

As the saying goes, a woman's work is never done, but at least in Shelburne, Vermont, a working woman is in very good company. 

 

Just ask Tracy Stolese, owner of Arabesque, or Emily Betz- of Bistro Sauce, or Anne Taylor of Home Ecology, or Josie Leavitt- of the Flying Pig Bookstore, to name a few.

 

Woman-owned or co-owned is what you'll find in large part in the town center, where dozens of shops and restaurants line two intersecting streets. Its not obvious, or even well-known.

 

But female entrepreneurship is thriving in this village, as Leavitt recently discovered while making a list of businesses, looking for ideas for an ad.

 

An exact number is hard to come by- as the town and state don't specifically track women entrepreneurs. But anecdotally.

 

None of these women can quite explain the phenomenon, among the theories: That Shelburne has an abundance of supportive spouses, or strong women, or family women, who like controlled flexibility.

 

You've got women running gift shops, toy stores .. restaurants .. general stores .. and book stores... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Lets not forget-- there are plenty of female reporters... and, yes, photographers.  What is this world coming to?

 What it's coming to, a study out of the University of New Hampshire found, is a shift in women's roles in the home: wives' earnings now make up nearly half of the total family income.

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