City: Kennebunk, ME
Category: Shopping
Address: 52 Main Street
2. Marlow’S
City: Kennebunk, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 985-2931
Address: 64 Main St.
Description: This nifty department store is sort of a case study in how to grow a small retail store into a local institution. The company began in the early 1980s as a 500-square-foot shop in an old mill, where you could buy stationery. Every few years the place would add products—usually whole departments at a time. In 1994 Marlow’s moved and quadrupled its size, and it doubled it again with another move in 1999. What does all this mean to you? Well, it means that you can now find home furnishings, garden items, bath and body products, toys, jewelry, gourmet foods, candles, and, yes, stationery at the 5,000-square foot little retailer that could.
3. Old House Parts
City: Kennebunk, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 985-1999
Address: One Trackside Dr.
Description: Any fan of This Old House will want to wander around here. Now located off Route 35 (Summer Street), about a half mile from its old location, this is one of the state’s best architectural salvage operations, and you’ll have your choice of old doors, windows, stained glass, doorknobs, balustrades, moldings, and all sorts of architectural oddments from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. While of most interest to people owning houses that predate World War II, the goods here can add a bit of character to any home. Prices can be a bit steep, though.
4. Tom’S Of Maine Natural Living Store
City: Kennebunk, ME
Category: Shopping
Address: 52 Main St.
Description: The story goes that when American troops invaded Manuel Noriega’s home in Panama in 1989, they found some Tom’s of Maine toothpaste among the notorious general’s toiletries. If he likes Tom’s earth-friendly line of products, he’d go crazy at the company’s factory store in an old mill in downtown Kennebunk. Toothpastes, soaps, herbal goods, tote bags, and more by Tom’s and select others are all available at greatly reduced prices. Ask about the tour of Tom’s factory across town. (Legendary in Maine for its eco-friendly, socially conscious business practices, Tom’s broke a few hearts in 2006 when it became part of the Colgate-Palmolive empire.)
5. Wallingford Farm
City: Kennebunk, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 985-2112
Address: 21 York St.
Description: Anyone with a home, garden, or taste for Maine delicacies will find something to like about this neat store housed in a sprawling 19th-century barn on Route 1. The place is a country store in the truest sense, stocked practically to the exposed rafters with farm-related goods, from local produce to Maine-made foods, flowers to garden tools, handmade soaps to books on landscaping. The goal of owner Charles Godfrey has been to supply area residents with reasonably priced specialty items they can’t get at supermarkets, and he’s done a great job at it. Worth a detour.
6. River Tree Arts
City: Kennebunk, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 967-9120
Address: 35 Western Ave.
Description: This local outfit sponsors contra dances, summer concerts, and all sorts of arts classes for adults and children. The tree has been 25 years and growing in Kennebunk and it recently set down roots in Biddeford as well.