Martha’s Exchange Restaurant and Brewery

Many of you have asked, and surely the rest of you have wondered, “Who is Martha”?

It all began with Katherine, the great aunt of Bill Fokas, when she immigrated from Greece to Nashua 84 years ago. In 1936, she founded the original Martha’s Sweet Shoppe. She named it after the popular candy of that era known as “Martha Washington Candy”. The original store was only one tenth the size of the existing Martha’s.

In 1944, Bill’s father, James Fokas known to most as Mitch, came home from WWII and began running his Aunt’s candy shop. He soon expanded it to include a luncheonette with 28 stools; it quickly became the most popular lunch spot on Main Street. “Martha’s Sweet Shoppe and Luncheonette” was a landmark in Nashua for 50 years. Every political candidate that came to Nashua had to stop at Martha’s and they still do today. Many longtime residents and politicians planned Nashua’s future here at Martha’s. Mitch’s next expansion came with the addition of an extremely successful catering company which catered nearly every major function in the city for decades.