A year after closing one of its six stores, Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops is coming back strong this year, saying it will open three stores for the summer.
The bookstore chain now says it will open stores in Rockland, Topsham and Windham this summer. The new stores will be located in the Topsham Fair Mall between Renys and Lamey Wellehan, in the Windham Mall beside Renys, and in a freestanding building in Rockland on Maverick Street between McDonalds and Hannaford.
The expansion is a sharp reversal from a year ago, when the retailer announced on March 26 it would close its Camden store — just two weeks after the pandemic shut down nonessential businesses.
“We closed Camden out of survival. We had no idea how long we’d be closed and we panicked,” Jeff Curtis, CEO and co-owner of Sherman’s, told Mainebiz on Monday. “As soon as we could reopen, customers came back in droves.”
Curtis tried to get back the Camden space, which the company had leased, but was unsuccessful.
For now, Sherman’s has stores in Portland, Freeport, Damariscotta, Boothbay Harbor and Bar Harbor. The common tie with the current five stores is they’re all in downtowns with strong foot traffic, but new stores are in shopping centers or destination shopping areas.
“All three are a new model for us,” Curtis said.
Sherman’s is more than a “book store.” While it carries a wide selection of books, it also stocks stationery, cards, puzzles, games, toys, and gifts — many made in Maine. And the stores have anything but a cookie-cutter formula. While all the stores offer books, they each have distinctive offerings and all vary in square footage and layout.
Its Portland store has a section devoted to clever greeting cards and socks with the likeness of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Freeport store has a wide range of toys. Sherman’s Boothbay store is two stories and has a vast upstairs devoted to publishers’ remainder books and specialties like nautical books. The Damariscotta store is attached to the Brown Dog Bakery (Sherman’s leases the bakery and coffee shop its space). The Bar Harbor location takes up three storefronts on Main Street.
Curtis said the merchandise mix is driven by customers. Each store started with a similar mix of products and the product mix evolved as customers “voted” with their dollars, Curtis said.
The three new stores will open this summer, pending permits from the fire marshal, Curtis said. Most should be open by July, he said.
“We are especially excited to be creating at least 15 good jobs for Maine booksellers,” said Maria Boord Curtis, director of operations and co-owner of Sherman’s. “This growth also creates career advancement opportunities for our current team. As a result, Sherman’s is now hiring for various positions at the new locations as well as at all five existing locations in Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, Damariscotta, Freeport, and Portland.”
Sherman’s was founded in Bar Harbor in 1886. In addition to being Maine’s oldest bookstore, it is one of the 10 oldest bookstores in the United States.