Not long after Lynn Mitchell graduated high school and was trying to figure out what her future would be, her father, Frank, who owned Mrs. Mitchell’s Gift Shop in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, asked her if she wanted to open a store “in the Cape.”
The store, which began in the Cape Cod town of Yarmouth, Massachusetts in 1991, moved a couple of times due to property sales.
After renting space in Yarmouth for several years, the Mitchells purchased two retail spaces on Main Street in Hyannis. Lynn now manages both of those stores, Mrs. Mitchell’s on Main and Mrs. M’s Summer House.
While Mrs. Mitchell’s on Main sells the same sort of souvenirs, gifts, apparel and jewelry that you would find in the original Hampton Beach store, Mrs. M’s has a slightly different vibe.
“It has more decorative nautical decor and nautical antiques,” explains Lynn. “It’s just a little different twist on the same concept.”
Just like her brother Bob’s kids, Lynn employs some of her offspring, too.
“I have five kids and four of them work for me,” she says.
And like her sib, Lynn is also appreciative of their grandparent’s decision 54 years ago to start a store in Hampton Beach.
“The fact that my grandparents rolled the dice and purchased a store in Hampton Beach so long ago afforded us the opportunity to be able to do what we do. I definitely feel lucky that they started it.”
