1. Abacus American Crafts
City: Freeport, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 865-6620 or (800) 206-21
Address: 36 Main St.
Description: Mainers love Abacus, a functional arts store in a few locations along the cost (they can also be found in Kennebunkport, Portland, and Boothbay Harbor). As much an art gallery as a store, it has been purveying kooky, fun, and often beautiful furnishings, jewelry, pottery, and blown glass since 1971 and has been voted one of the top 10 retailers in the country by Niche magazine.
2. Cuddledown
City: Freeport, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (888) 235-3696
Address: 475 Route 1
Description: Begun in the early 1980s as a home business making down comforters, Cuddledown has grown and grown into one of the nation’s leading makers of bedding. Their outlet store in Freeport stocks all the exquisite goose feather puffs they’ve become famous for as well as sleepwear, rugs, pillows, sheets, mattress pads, and all sorts of other housewares, and there’s another outlet in Kittery.
3. L.L. Bean
City: Freeport, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (800) 559-0747
Address: 95 Main St.
Description: By now just about everyone knows about L.L. Bean and its customer-friendly policies—the store’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and everything you buy inside is unconditionally guaranteed. While the store has turned more toward lifestyle goods—apparel, housewares, etc.—you’ll still find plenty to like in the outdoors sections on the first floor and there are whole stores devoted to hunting and fishing and biking, boating, and skiing.
4. L.L. Bean Factory Store
City: Freeport, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 552-7772
Address: Main St.
Description: Locals remember when Bean sold its seconds and discontinued items out of the warehouse down the road, but it proved so popular the original factory store is now up on Main. The deal on the imperfect items found here is the same as it is on the perfect ones on Bow Street—everything’s satisfactory or your money back—which is why it’s a good idea to start at the Factory Store first before heading to the main store. If you do find what you’re looking for here, which is a good possibility, you’ll pay up to 60 percent less than what you might just a few blocks away. Open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
5. Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers
City: Freeport, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 865-4519 or (800) 708-90
Address: 149 Main St.
Description: Don’t be confused by the name. Thos. Moser makes a lot more than cabinets. Since 1973 the fine wood craftsman—along with his sons—has turned out beautiful hardwood furnishings inspired by Shaker, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Queen Anne designs. In the beautifully restored 19th-century home that serves as the company’s only Maine showroom (others are in places like New York, LA, DC, and Seoul, Korea), you’ll find two floors full of tables, chairs, beds, and desks, each an heirloom in the making.