Elisabeth (Libby) Branch is the owner of the Mill Village Country Store. Purchased in March of 2021 from its longtime proprietors, it was clearly a viable business, but what wasn’t clear was how much the building needed structurally. 

During the first year, a main section of the floor threatened to collapse. It turned out that a major support beam in the basement was giving way.

The business was profitable, but needed a little help with the unexpected cost of repairing the floor. As Libby put it in an interview, “I was in desperate need of financial aid because it would have depleted the store and the doors would have been closed.” 

While the business generated enough income for general repairs and upkeep, replacing a support beam is expensive. Without the infusion of a chunk of money, the only local food business in town would probably have shut down — likely forever.

Libby’s sister Annie serves as store and in-house post office manager. In the short time since they’ve taken over, the family has become deeply connected to their adopted town. From very early on, as locals came in to welcome them, they began to understand the deeper purpose their new venture served for the community. 

Libby put it this way, “This is more of a community service. But we love it. And we have so many relationships that I couldn't imagine my life without and a lot of support from our customers.”

Not knowing how to finance the floor repairs, they asked around for who might be able to help them out and were directed to the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund.

Charlene Anderson, our Farm Food Lender, answered the call. And as Libby tells it, “I've been in touch with Charlene for the last two years. She was monitoring the store. Very interested in the story. We built a little bit of a friendship over this time, so she has seen the good and the bad, and, she knew that I just needed a little bit of a leg up, to get me to find a full speed ahead and she took a lot of interest and kind of took me under her wing at that time.”