Courtesy / Dayton Group
The interior of North Optical in the Black Box, 93 Washington Ave., Portland. The five units are 320 square feet each.
November 13, 2019
Black Box tenants growing, graduating year after it opened
Courtesy / Dayton Group
The Black Box, at 93 Washington Ave. in Portland, hasn't had trouble attracting tenants since the retail incubator opened a year ago.
By Maureen Milliken
The Cheese Shop, one of the original tenants in Portland’s Black Box retail space, has graduated to a larger shop down the street —an example of how the business incubator was intended to function.
North Optical, another charter tenant, plans to stay and has no interest in going elsewhere — an example of what the 1,600-square-foot building at 93 Washington Ave. can also be.
A year after it opened, the city’s first retail property built from shipping containers is serving its purpose as a retail incubator, but also evolving into a hot spot for small businesses whose owners want small storefront space on Portland’s peninsula.
The property is owned by the Dayton Group, which handles its own leasing. The real estate development group, with offices at 75 Washington Ave., bought the property from Jed Harris, of Cotton Street Holdings, who first thought up the container-incubator, owners said when it opened. It was built by SnapSpace Solutions, of Brewer.
Short-term leases, most of them for a month at a time, with a renewal option, allow businesses to test whether the space will work for them, without a long-term commitment, owners said when it opened in November 2018.
One success story is the Cheese Shop, which has been in an end unit of the Black Box since it opened.
Owners Will and Mary Sissle needed bigger space, but aren't going far. The business moved to 107 Washington Ave., opening Nov. 1.
The shop is in 950 square feet of the single-story standalone brick building. Tripling its space, the shop now has more seating, more selection, evening classes and producer visits.
‘A blank slate’
Ishi Ishi Ramen, a nine-stool noodle shop owned by Matthew De Fio and Andrew Doolittle, is due to open in mid-December in the end unit the Cheese Shop vacated.
The five-unit building has six tenants, including two that share space, Campfire Pottery and Mulxiply. The businesses are owned by ceramics artists Kristen and Joe Camp, and Tanja Cesh, who sells Maine-designed, Himalaya-inspired accessories and gifts made by fair-wage artists in Nepal.
Courtesy / Dayton Group
Chris Wheaton, owner of North Optical, which celebrated its one-year anniversary at the Black Box Wednesday.
Strata, a Japanese cutlery and whetstone sharpening store, moved in last December. Lewiston shoemaker Rancourt & Co., a retail arm of the Lewiston online shoe seller, opened earlier this year.
North Optical, along with Campfire Studios and Mulxiply, is an original tenant still in the space a year after the building opened.
North Optical owner Chris Wheaton said the space is a great fit for his business, which sells curated handmade eyewear and celebrated its first anniversary Wednesday.
“The space is great and basically a blank slate,” Wheaton told Mainebiz. “It allows me to change and evolve even in just 300 square feet. Also glasses are small, so that helps.”
He said that the Black Box served its incubator purpose well. “I could not have asked for a better way to get North Optical off the ground,” he said.
He wasn’t necessarily looking for Washington Avenue space when he started out. “I was honestly pretty open as long as it was 'on peninsula,' but I feel incredibly lucky to be on Washington Ave.,” he said.
“I love being a part of the neighborhood and could not imagine my business anywhere else.”
Courtesy / Dayton Group
The Black Box, 93 Washington Ave., Portland, is the city's first retail space built from shipping containers.
Space to grow
Since the Black Box opened, it has had nine tenants — and while some have been there from the start, others have deliberately been short-term.
When owners of coffee shop All Those Who Wander moved on to try something last year, Star Cousins, a textile studio opened a one-month pop-up store. Owner Abigail Pratt said at the time she operated out of her house, and it was a good chance to "test the waters" of retail.
Jake Edwards, managing partner of the Dayton Group, said when it opened last year that Washington Avenue “is a very exciting part of Portland that has experienced a lot of growth in the last few years.” He said owners hoped the retail incubator would help promote more year-round foot traffic.
“The Black Box is here to support local small businesses that are looking for space to grow, while also helping to showcase the efforts and success of the existing business owners on the street,” he said.
Wheaton said the concept continues to work for him.
His plan is to stay for another two or three years before finding a larger space on Washington Avenue.
“I believe in the Black Box concept and want to be able to pass along the opportunity to another person looking to start something of their own,” he said.
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