Benefits to Maine
Many small business owners have noticed a boom in sales since construction has started in their town. Here are their stories.
Perched on the side of busy Eastern Avenue in Chelsea is Abbotts Market & Deli, a small country store that provides made-to-order food and convenience store items. It’s not unusual to find store owners Stephanie and Neil ready to greet their customers. Neil, who usually mans the store in the morning hours, is on a first-name basis with most regulars.
Beginning in early summer both Stephanie and Neil started seeing an increase over and above their normal summer business. Crews from the Maine Power Reliability Program had come to town and quickly became regulars at the store.
"Summers are always busy, but the crews had a huge impact. It’s the busiest we have been for breakfast in the past 4 years.”
As a result the store increased its inventory of snacks, drinks and food products to keep up with the additional demand. Neil mentioned to Stephanie that the breakfast wraps and the flat bread sandwiches were quickly becoming a crew favorite.
At the Dixmont Corner Store in a construction supervisor from the MPRP asked for permission to use the store as a temporary crew headquarters due to the availability of wireless internet. The store manager and owner’s son, Wendell Corey, noted that they would have morning meetings and carry out various daily activities at the store.
"We got a lot of business because they spent so many hours of the operation at our store,” Wendell said. The MPRP crews increased sales on snacks and to-go breakfast food so much that they had to increase the store inventory to keep up with demand.
One local business owner who has noticed a difference is Donna Dube, owner of Donna's Country Kettle in Livermore Falls:
Dube said that crews have been coming into Donna's Country Kettle for breakfast before the workday and many have come back for lunch. She was proud to have introduced one out-of-state worker to his first Whoopee Pie. She has even rearranged her specials to accommodate the crews, increasing lunchtime business.
In regards to serving the construction crews, she stated, "We appreciate the business, like the new faces, and the people have been nice to serve."
East Coast Sign Design in Lewiston thrived for 18 years producing large format and graphic prints, but due to the recent economic recession, Tim and Christina Lafrance saw a 50% decrease in business this year. Their clientele, comprised mostly of small businesses, began cutting back on their expenses, including marketing materials, or closing business altogether.
However, contractors working for the MPRP began using East Coast Sign Design as a primary printer for project signs, magnets and stickers. With this added business, Tim and Christina are "keeping their chins up" and credited the project with giving them hope in a dismal economy.
"This job came to us at a very needy time; the bad economy has really hit us hard in the last year, cutting our annual sales in half,” said Tim. Christina agreed, "This job coming when it did was a God send, we were in dire straits.”
In Detroit, Maine, Penny Basford noticed a large increase in sales at her shop, The Maine Store, every time the MPRP crews came to town for a new phase of the construction process.
"All of a sudden the Asplundh guys showed up. They ate here a lot. We got to know all of them too- that’s the thing- good people. We try to accommodate them and I think that they appreciate us as much as we appreciate them. I think the world of these guys.”
The workers have contributed to the increase of sales and demand on inventory of to-go food orders, which Penny started to specialize for the workers. She has made up to two dozen extra breakfast sandwiches a day and doubled the amount of coffee she would normally make to accommodate the crews’ demand, and she even started to special order products that the workers requested. Penny stated that she was especially pleased that the workers loyally bought fuel from her, even though she may not always have the lowest prices in town.
Alisa Wiley is the proud owner of the North Pownal General Store. Located in Pownal, Maine, this small country store offers a wide variety of convenience items, groceries and delicious homemade food served with a warm hometown ambiance. The store recently had some new traffic from the MPRP crews, who added to the mix of regulars. Alisa commented that, "the store has a strong base of regular customers, but the crews came in like a storm, we weren't prepared!”
"They like the luncheon specials, the crews ask on a regular basis what the specials are, and when we are going to have meatloaf again. The meals are homemade, similar to what they would get in their own homes. A lot of these guys are on the road, away from home, and they must get homesick. I think that coming to the store offers a hometown feel with friends, homemade meals, and belonging. They are a great group of guys; we have their picture on the wall.”
The crews business resulted in increased sales of to-go items and food orders. Traffic increased during their breaks and sometimes on the weekends when they came in for the breakfast buffet. The store had to order more food and to-go containers to meet demand.
"It’s been a nice lift in business, but they are leaving soon. I can’t wait for them to come back!”
At the corner of Route 32 and Ridge Road in Windsor, Varney’s Market offers made-to-order food, gas and convenience items. The store manager Amy Havey mentioned that there has been a huge increase in sales this year and she had to hire three workers new workers.
"The crews come in and out all day - morning noon and night, mostly for to go food, beverages and snacks especially ice cream - there are some faithful ice cream buyers.”
While not all of the increase is due to the MPRP, Amy said that one out of the three new employees were hired directly due to the MPRP crews’ additional business.
"Since April when the crews started working - long before tourist season started and before the store next door closed - you could tell there was an increase, I had to hire another person.”
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