Downtown Gift Store Undergoing Big Changes

Conrad Desrosiers and his wife, Susan Sawtelle, co-owners of the Macro Polo, Macroscopic and Macro Unleashed stores on Market and Ceres streets, know their customers' buying tendencies very well.

So when they realized they needed to change the way they sell their merchandise to meet their customers' needs, they decided to make some changes. In particular, the Macro Unleashed store on Ceres Street, which offered pet gifts, will soon become Macroport when it reopens on May 24.

"A lot of the things we have upstairs like the sports gifts and the Portsmouth gifts will be coming down here," said Desrosiers. They will still sell pet related gift items like specialty dog toys, treats and food bowls, but now customers will be able to buy more tourist centric items like Portsmouth T-shirts and sweatshirts and sports memorabilia of their favorite teams.

Desrosiers said that during the busy summer season, this is what a majority of his customers want when they entered the former Macro Unleashed store. But when they realized the store specialized in pet gifts, they would walk out instead of going up the spiral staircase to Macro Polo or Macroscopic where they could purchase those store's unique gift items or some sports or Portsmouth related nautical gifts.

Desrosiers said it can sometimes be a challenge to figure out the best way to sell their merchandise to Portsmouth area residents and visitors alike. But they are fortunate that all three stores are connected, which allows the couple to switch their wares around depending on the season. The couple have owned and operated the three Macro stores for 10 years.