Dec 16, 2012

New Life for NL Fair-Trade StoreBy Lee HowardTheDay.com

New London, CT – A new missionary of the fair-trade movement in the region has reopened the Flavours of Life gift shop on Bank Street, ready to take over a store and a vision pioneered by David Lewis and Marcie Boyer.

Ellen Cummings, a city resident who had no retail experience before reopening the store in August, said she at first felt downhearted at hearing Lewis and Boyer were giving up the shop that she loved. But a few minutes later Cummings felt galvanized at the thought that she could be the one to run it, despite a career that previously had revolved around early childhood education, the last few years as director of the Mitchell College Children’s Learning Center before it closed a year and a half ago.

“I’m really hopeful about downtown New London,” said Cummings, a native of Maine. “I remember when Portland, Maine, was very much like New London.”

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