With the recent closing of Yahso Jamaican Grille’s brick-and-mortar location, as well as other local restaurants, we at The Equinox feel there is dwindling diversity among Keene’s downtown restaurants and a lack of diversity on campus.
Yahso and Local Burger are some of the recent closures on Main St. in Keene. With Yahso being a Jamaican restaurant, Keene’s diversity of eateries is shrinking. It leaves few options for students to choose from if they are interested in eating out while attending college. Many of these restaurants are pricey for some students as many are running a tight budget with little wiggle room for the simple pleasure of going out. This is a problem for N.H. more broadly.
Unfortunately, unlike neighboring Vermont, N.H. does not have a good support system for small and upstarting businesses. Vermont has some very important resources available to businesses such as the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) and a small business loan program offered through the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA). According to the VtSBDC website, it is a program supported through the V.T. state college system and hosted by Vermont State University; while VEDA, according to their website, is a state program that was founded in 1974 by act of the V.T. General Assembly. These are programs that Keene, and more broadly, N.H. could really benefit from.
Vermont is known for its thriving small business scene with many small businesses and eateries in small towns and villages such as Bellows Falls and Brattleboro. Bellows Falls features a few small coffee shops, Popolo: a small sit down restaurant and bar, and a Jamaican restaurant called Jamaican Jewelz. Brattleboro offers similar options as well as a Mediterranean restaurant and an Asian/Korean restaurant. With a population of roughly 2,700 in the village of Bellows Falls and 12,000 in the town of Brattleboro, these smaller towns are out competing the larger city of Keene, roughly 24,000, in diverse food options.
Keene and the Keene State College campus suffers immensely from this lack of diversity and lack of supportive policy. Making the efforts to craft policy and supporting local ethnically/culturally diverse restaurants and eateries would make the city of Keene and campus more appealing and welcoming to visit. New Hampshire being a state where municipalities depend on property tax revenue means towns and cities, like Keene, have to maintain a high property tax rate if they lack the wealth of land value. This puts undue pressure on renters, in particular, upstarting businesses who have to manage exorbitant rent costs with no support. Downtown Keene has many lovely storefronts near Central Square that would be great for developing a vibrant community of shops and diverse eateries.
The downfall of many of these locations, along with the tax system, is the ownership base of the properties; many of these downtown properties are owned by real estate companies and trusts. The current property tax system incentivizes these exorbitant rent costs, making it difficult to start a business. Without proper support and funding at the state level starting a business is even more difficult as there is no way to offset some of these expenses.
We at The Equinox wish to see more diverse food both culturally and financially, without having to resort to fast food chains. As a city and in the state, we could certainly strive for more of these options with other states leading the way with programs. As a college, we could utilize some of the tools at our disposal. The Global Cultural Club does cooking events where a student shares and helps others to prepare a meal from their ethnic/cultural background. With the Chartwells catering service currently, Keene State College could hold collaborative events with regional small businesses to bring authenticity and culturally diverse food options onto campus.
This would help build community and support diversity and interconnectivity, opening up students to experiences they might not otherwise have while supporting our fragile young businesses in the region.
