For Rent in Edgartown: What Store Do You Want Here?

26 Dock St., Edgartown

This downtown storefront just across the street from the Quarterdeck on Edgartown Harbor has, over the decades, furnished summer jobs for generations of seasonal workers.

In 1976 and 1977, I was one of them: I worked as a shopgirl at the Golden Door, owned by John Chirgwin, when it was at that location.

It was a busy shop in the '70s. I remember once waiting on a formidable old woman who lit up a cigarette, waving off the no-smoking rule with a gruff "Don't worry, I know what's-his-name."

Giving up, I brought her an ashtray, and later as I rang up her purchase I recognized the famous name imprinted on her credit card: LILLIAN HELLMAN. 

Hellman and the Golden Door are both long gone from Edgartown: The author and playwright died in 1984 and was buried in Chilmark, while Chirgwin closed his store for good in 2009 after more than 40 years of seasonal operations at various locations around town, according to the Vineyard Gazette.

Now this shop at 26 Dock St., most recently tenanted by Menemsha Blues, is vacant again. 

What kind of business would you like to see open up there in 2013? Should it be another T-shirt, clothing or souvenir shop, an importer, a coffee shop, a yogurt bar or something else entirely?

Share your visions for this vacancy in the comments below.

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