Name: 'Local oasis’ WaterMonkey to close after 27 years in Portsmouth
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'Local oasis’ WaterMonkey to close after 27 years in Portsmouth

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Hadley Barndollarhbarndollar@seacoastonline.comView CommentsPORTSMOUTH – “If you could photograph the smell, I’d say do that,” said Aaron Jule from behind the counter at WaterMonkey, a smile showing beneath his mask.The permeating musk medley of sandalwood, patchouli and jasmine was, of course, what Jule was referencing.A customer entered the store, ringing the cowbell fixed to the top of the door frame. Jule gave a “woo hoo!” as he does every time the bell rings.WaterMonkey, the Vaughan Mall’s second-longest tenant and a “local oasis for any generation of people,” will close its doors at the end of July – after 27 years in business at the downtown location and 38 years doing retail on the Seacoast.The “old hippie” family business will now look ahead to a new chapter, in which WaterMonkey will become mobile. They’ve already applied for a vendor license with the state, and hope to ultimately operate a retail trailer of sorts at various events and locations.“As optimistic as we are for the future, it’s been a little nerve-wracking to make the decision,” said Jule, whose mother, Carole Jule, started the business that he and his brother Roger F. Pease joined. “I wanted to become old and senile behind this counter.”Jule said it cost a lot to keep a physical store going during the COVID-19 mandated closures, between rent and insurance. Running a unique retail shop as such had always been a gamble, he said, but “now the odds have changed.”, Carole Jule said WaterMonkey was the second-longest to be in business at the Vaughan Mall, after Mr. Dean’s.“When I first opened here there was a cobbler and a tailor,” she said at the time. “Those days are over, and it’s sad downtown no longer has these services.”Jule said WaterMonkey “had to do a lot of soul-searching to figure out how to move forward” amid COVID-19, adding that as “old hippies,” they didn’t have a website to do online sales from during the store’s physical closure, which is where so many retail businesses pivoted.“It was a lot of taking photos and going back and forth with customers,” he said. “We got an Instagram and Facebook going. There were a lot of amazing supporters, people that reached out to order stuff.”Asked what WaterMonkey has meant to the Portsmouth community since its inception as a pushcart in the mall, Jule said, “We’re honest and happy.”“We love people for who they are. We have lots of friends in lots of realms of the world, and they all have beauty to show. We have always tried to be a friend first.”Over the years, Jule said, “we’ve seen it all.”“My brother always says he’s been on every good scene before it became a scene,” he laughed. “There’s more in this town than you see. The people are the scenery. Some amazingly funny, some amazingly shocking.”It’s nearly impossible to select the right adjectives to describe WaterMonkey’s eclectic atmosphere. There are fedoras, leather journals, tie-dye jeans, candles, incense, scarves, tapestries and psychedelic posters.“We have musician friends from around the world – Paris, New York City, California – and they come to get hats here,” Jule said, pointing to the beanies, flat brims, baseball caps, and more.Two walls of T-shirts feature Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Queen, Tupac Shakur, Monty Python and multi-colored mushrooms. Purses are woven with patterns of marijuana leaves. Dream catcher earrings hang by Mexican and Peruvian clothing and decor, paper lanterns, hemp necklaces and toe rings.WaterMonkey announced its July 31 closure over the weekend and has since received “a lot of phenomenal support” through customers sharing favorite memories on Facebook. Heartbroken commenters described a refuge where they could be themselves and share with generations of family members.“WaterMonkey was my refuge as a kid!” one person wrote. “I always felt so loved and welcomed there when I felt rejected by so many others.”Another wrote, “I can honestly say WaterMonkey is one of the only places left in Portsmouth that still holds any feeling for me. There is a smell, a feeling, a vibe that wraps around you when that bell rings. Thank you for a million memories and smiles.”Jule expects the next four weeks will be full of much of the same.“You adapt and evolve, and tomorrow’s a brighter day,” he smiled.View Comments

Hadley Barndollarhbarndollar@seacoastonline.comView CommentsPORTSMOUTH – “If you could photograph the smell, I’d say do that,” said Aaron Jule from behind the counter at WaterMonkey, a smile showing beneath his mask.The permeating musk medley of sandalwood, patchouli and jasmine was, of course, what Jule was referencing.A customer entered the store, ringing the cowbell fixed to the top of the door frame. Jule gave a “woo hoo!” as he does every time the bell rings.WaterMonkey, the Vaughan Mall’s second-longest tenant and a “local oasis for any generation of people,” will close its doors at...

'Local oasis’ WaterMonkey to close after 27 years in Portsmouth

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