Power Lunch: Joan Ecker, Founder and CEO of F.H. Clothing Co. in Quechee
F.H. Clothing Co., known far and wide as Fat Hat Clothing Co., started in the late 1970s as a whim born of necessity. Joan Ecker built the business from scratch and still presides over the operation from its landmark barn at 1 Quechee Main St., just off Route 4 in Quechee. Over a lunch of salmon and apple cider, Ecker discusses her company’s history, its approach to selling clothes and why she doesn’t put a lot of stock in being...
Rolling With the Changes: Segway Tours Are Quechee Gorge Village Owner’s Latest Business Reinvention
Quechee — On a whiteboard in Gary Neil’s cluttered office above the Cabot Quechee Store at the Quechee Gorge Village shopping mall on Route 4 is scrawled a reminder: “QGV is in reality part of a much larger natural attraction.” The sentence reflects how Neil views the 20-acre retail complex that caters to the swarm of tourists visiting the gorge every summer, a challenge that is forcing him to “recast” the assembly of gift shops,...
