Video: Going Goth

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Photo by TRWImaging.

The at-first scary store that the little town of Marlborough grew to like - and even shop at.

At 17, Malaise Lindenfeld moved from her native Venezuela to New York City and entered into a rising fashion culture. "I was considered a punk," she says. Lindenfeld's "punky" fashion sense led her up and down NYC streets picking out piece by piece the outfits that would achieve her desired look.

Up until the '90s Lindenfeld stayed in New York, then moved to Miami, still wearing the now "gothic" style. In Miami she experienced the direst clothing shortage of her life. "When I went to Miami it was even worse [than New York]," she says. "There was like nothing!" So she did the only thing she could do: she opened up a store of her own and called it Inkubus Haberdashery.

Most of Lindenfeld's business transactions were over the Internet, which enabled her to open up a new store in Marlborough, situated near Mt. Monadnock, in 2005 after she and her husband moved to New Hampshire.

At first, you might expect Inkubus to have been run out of a rural town like Marlborough, but instead residents slowly took a liking to it. "There are so many different styles of goth," says Lindenfeld, "There's something for everyone." Although people were scared initially, once they entered Inkubus, they dropped any misconceptions and began to shop. You can find clothing and accessories for women, men, kids, babies and plus sizes, too.

"I really try," Lindenfeld says. "I don't have anything that can be considered satanic or anything like that because I'm not into that myself." Indeed, with the entire upstairs filled with clothing, Lindenfeld may just be her own best customer. "I do what I love," she says. "I sell the stuff that I love." And it's her unique sense of style that gives the store its charm. It's remarkably tasteful.

On one side of Inkubus is a laundromat, and on the other, a vegetarian café. Lindenfeld owns both. She is proving to be a gifted business leader, with plans to open up a fourth business, a hardware store, soon. For more information visit www.inkubus.com.