New Hampshire does not have a sales tax on the majority of retail goods that are sold in the state, so certain communities in the southern portion of the state along the border with Massachusetts and Maine have become strong regional retail corridors serving not only the residents of New Hampshire but also drawing customers from Massachusetts and Maine who seek to save money by avoiding  the 6.25% Massachusetts sales tax and the 5.5% Maine sales tax.

More specifically, Nashua, Salem & Portsmouth all meet this criteria. While all three of these markets have a successful enclosed regional malls (Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, The Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem and The Mall at Fox Run in Portsmouth / Newington) they all also have a large concentration of big boxes and mid-size boxes in the same general area as the mall. The only other major regional retail corridor in New Hampshire that is centered around a successful regional mall is the area surrounding The Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester. In addition, significant big box retail is located along South Willow Street by the mall as well as to the east across the Merrimack River along Route 3 in the more affluent town of Bedford.

Other significant regional retail corridors are in Concord, Keene, West Lebanon, Hooksett, and Seabrook. Although there is no enclosed regional mall in these towns there is a large concentration of big box and mid-sized box retail that makes these trade areas regional in nature.

Other retail markets throughout the state that are more of a community draw include Route 101A in the northern part of Nashua, Plaistow, Rochester, Littleton, Conway, Somersworth, Claremont, Merrimack, Londonderry and the Tilton / Laconia / Gilford corridor in The Lakes Region.

New Hampshire also has a strong collection of outlet shopping due to its heavy year round tourist traffic looking to take advantage of the state’s abundance of mountains and lakes. The outlet shopping is centered on three main projects. Settler’s Green in North Conway is the original outlet destination in the state, and benefits primarily from tourist traffic to Mount Washington (the highest peak in the northeastern U.S.) and the adjacent skiing, hiking and camping in the nearby White Mountain National Forest.  Tanger Outlets in Tilton, serves the tourists visiting The Lakes Region. The newest project is Merrimack Premium Outlets in Merrimack, which is in the southern portion of the state. In addition to serving the tourist market, Merrimack is located near New Hampshire’s population centers and also is an easy drive from the Massachusetts state line in order to attract tax free shoppers from that state.

Grocery operators in New Hampshire include Hannaford, Shaw’s, Market Basket, Price Chopper, The Fresh Market, Aldi, Walmart Supercenter, Whole Foods, Price Rite and Sav-A-Lot.

The most obvious economic driver in New Hampshire is tourism. With the abundance of lakes and mountains in addition to eighteen miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline, New Hampshire benefits from year round tourist traffic at a variety of destinations located throughout the state. Tourism represents the second largest industry (behind manufacturing) in terms of jobs supported by dollars generated from out of state.

Historically, New Hampshire, like much of New England, depended heavily on its’ natural resource industries such as paper and grain mills to support its’ economy. Over time the importance of these industries to New Hampshire’s economy gave way to traditional manufacturing which by the middle of the 20^th century became the largest driver of New Hampshire’s economy. However, traditional manufacturing became more difficult as jobs for fabrication work were sent outside the U.S.  in an effort to save costs.

Towards the end of the 20th century two trends began that impacted New Hampshire’s economy. of today. First, Massachusetts became a center for high tech industries. New Hampshire, given its’ close proximity to Boston Metro, has been able to piggyback off its neighbor’s success, moving large segments of New Hampshire’s economic base to electronic component manufacturing and other high tech industries including both biotech and biomed. The Seacoast and the Upper Valley region of the state have been particularly successful in attracting bio employment. Bio growth in the Upper Valley is being driven in large part by the research being undertaken at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, which is the research hospital associated with Dartmouth College and its Medical School. Companies such as Teleflex Medical, Abbott Laboratories, Standex, Amphenol, Thermo Fisher, Texas Instruments, Hewlett Packard and Oracle fit this description and all have a significant presence in New Hampshire.

Second, the cost advantages of manufacturing outside the U.S., became less significant as manufacturing technologies became more sophisticated and the labor expertise required for these technologies required more highly trained and educated labor. These new manufacturing methods, known as “Advanced Manufacturing” have  reinvigorated the manufacturing sector in New Hampshire. Initially driven by the  aerospace and defense sectors with large employers such as Timken, Safron, Lockheed Martin, GE, Sierra Nevada and Bae; Advanced Manufacturing in New Hampshire now produces a wide range of products from Velcro to printing equipment to firefighter clothing and specialty lighting.

The Lakes Region of New Hampshire is a year round vacation destination and second home market consisting of 273 lakes, ponds & rivers. The four largest bodies of water are Lake Winnipesaukee, Winnisquam Lake, Squam Lake and Newfound Lake.

Of the four lakes, Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest at approximately 21 miles long and a width that varies between one and nine miles with a surface area of approximately 44,586 acres (72 square miles). There are 258 islands on the lake. It is the largest lake in New Hampshire and the third largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain in Vermont and Moosehead Lake in Maine.

Squam Lake is the second largest lake in New Hampshire with a surface area  of approximately seven miles and a width that varies from 3/4 of a mile  to a maximum width of 4.6 miles. Squam has 28 named islands,  61 miles of coastline and is best known for the filming of the 1981 classic movie “On Golden Pond” with Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda.

Newfound Lake is New Hampshire’s third largest lake having a surface area of 4,451 acres. Newfound has 22 miles of shoreline, is approximately 6 miles long and 2.5 miles wide with five islands.

Winnisquam Lake is New Hampshire’s fourth largest lake with a surface area of approximately 4,214 acres.  It is 1/10^th the size of Lake Winnipesaukee at approximately 5.4 miles long and 1.7 miles at its widest point wide with 28.2 miles of shoreline and five islands. Each lake contains spectacularly clear water. Nestled in the foothills of the White Mountains, the combination of lake and mountain views makes the Lakes Region unique in its natural beauty.

Summer lake activities include sailing, boating, fishing, all varieties of water sports water or just relaxing. Charming lakeside villages offer all ranges of dining from family friendly to some of New England’s most promising young chef’s.

More than just a summer destination, winter visitors can enjoy ice fishing, snowmobiling, cross country and downhill skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Gunstock Mountain Resort is located in the heart of the Lakes Region and offers downhill skiing and snowboarding during both day and nighttime, a dedicated snowboarding park, 50 kilometers of trails for snowing and cross country skiing, a tubing park with the New Hampshire’s longest tubing run and spectacular views of Lake Winnipesaukee from the summit. For those willing take a car ride a little further north to the White Mountain National Forest that adjoins The Lakes Region, similar winter activities can be found at Waterville Valley, Loon Mountain, Attitash, Wildcat Mountain, Bretton Woods, Cannon Mountain, Cranmore Mountain and Black Mountain.

Year round activities are rounded out by excellent golf courses, NASCAR races at the nearby 88,000 seat New Hampshire Motor Speedway  in Loudon and the always beautiful Fall foliage season. For those who love experiencing all that nature has to offer, few places can compare to The Lakes Region and The White Mountains of New Hampshire.