Photo / Courtesy Jeff Roberts
The closure of the Scarborough store marked the official establishment of the Portland location, in the Thomas Block building at 100 Commercial St., as the company’s flagship store.
Updated: March 17, 2025
Furniture retailer Chilton, with two other area locations, sells Scarborough site
Photo / Courtesy Chilton
Chilton Properties LLC sold the 17,753-square-foot retail building at 410 Payne Road in Scarborough to an entity of Pierce Furniture, which has stores nearby.
After testing the Portland market for four years, the owners of furniture retail company Chilton decided to close and sell a Scarborough location.
Chilton Properties LLC sold the 17,753-square-foot retail building at 410 Payne Road to Pierce Family Properties LLC for $3.5 million.
Mark Malone of Malone Commercial Brokers worked with both buyer and seller in the off-market transaction.
“The buyer was an entity of Pierce Furniture (local), which has stores in the very near vicinity of this property,” Malone told Mainebiz. “It will be used as another furniture store.”
Origins
The closure of the Scarborough store marked the official establishment of the Portland location, in the Thomas Block building at 100 Commercial St., as the company’s flagship store, according to a news release.
The Portland location opened in November 2020.
“We wanted to test the location under more normal circumstances and needed to be there a few years in order for that to happen,” Jennifer Levin, who owns Chilton with her husband Jared, told Mainebiz.
Chilton was founded in 1885 as a paints and finishes company with locations in Queens, N.Y., and elsewhere, Levin said.
In the 1970s, the company began to offer locally built unfinished pine furniture alongside the finishes.
By the 1980s, the focus was solely on cherry wood furniture inspired by the Shaker aesthetic of simple, clean lines, handcrafted by Amish communities in Maine and beyond.
Chilton opened a retail store at 184 Lower Main St. in Freeport in the late 1980s, followed by the Scarborough store a year or two later.
Chilton maintains partnerships with independent workshops, with about 70% of the items built in by a handful of workshops in Maine and other pieces coming from workshops in the Midwest.
New owners
The Levins bought the business in 2014.
Previously living in Larchmont, N.Y., Jennifer is a former corporate attorney and Jared worked in finance.
Photo / Courtesy Brianne Kennedy Photography
Jared and Jennifer Levin
As a Bates College graduate who spent childhood summers in Maine, Jennifer was ready to start a new career as an entrepreneur. On a whim, she searched businesses for sale in Maine; Chilton Furniture was at the top of the list.
“Chilton met all of our criteria,” she said at the time.
"Criteria included national recognition, quality products made in the U.S., excellent management, sales and warehouse staff, and fine quality wood craftsmanship with a Maine connection and the Shaker traditional theme.
New designs
Since then, the Levins have made investments in the business that include enhancement of online, catalog and regional advertising platforms to build out-of-state sales; and working with Chilton’s in-state craftsmen to develop new product lines.
Additional changes included an interior and exterior refresh of the Freeport showroom and revamping the website.
Photo / Courtesy Chilton
Chilton’s store in Freeport.
The Portland store opened in order to showcase Chilton’s new designs.
“It’s a modern take on traditional New England furniture,” through the filter of clean lines that celebrate the beauty of the wood, with historical and regional design as inspirations, said Levin.
The furniture is made from U.S. -sourced hardwood in species that include maple, cherry, walnut and white oak. Most pieces are built when they’re ordered.
“We wanted to put our newest designs in front of a new audience, or just get on the radar and show people that we’re here and we’re doing different things,” said Levin.
It took about a year to find the right Portland location. The Thomas Block, dating to 1860, was perfect.
“We loved the location,” she said. “It’s right on Commercial Street, with a lot of foot traffic."
The corner unit has large glass windows on two sides, making it easy for pedestrians to peer inside.
Attractive backdrop
Brick and off-white walls and a minimalist concrete floor offer a simple and attractive backdrop for the furniture.
“It’s a very understated space,” she said.
At the same time, it had modern features such as LED lighting, and historical features such as wood rafters and the brick walls.
“It’s a very clean palette and a perfect backdrop for our furniture,” she said.
The Portland location attracts a bigger and broader audience, particularly visitors from out-of-state, she said.
The company maintains its Freeport location, which showcases the company's full collection while the focus in Portland is on Chilton's newest designs.
“But we knew we wouldn’t need three locations, all within a half hour of each other,” she said. “That's why we decided to close our Scarborough location.”
The company has 10 employees and is looking to increase that now. There are many repeat customers. All together, Chilton offers about 175 products. It sells about 1,850 orders per year across all channels. The Portland store sees average foot traffic of 220 per month, counted by group or family, swelling to about 380 per month in the summer.
“When we joined in 2014, we said we’d like to expand and offer a variety of wood species and have our own unique line, work with a creative team and develop our own style,” said Levin. “It’s been an evolution.”
Mainebiz web partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments