🔒Main Street mojo: Belfast finds its groove in downtown independent retail

Not long after Maine became a state in 1820, Colburn Shoe Store opened for business in Belfast, a town on Penobscot Bay that has reinvented itself many times over. From a shipbuilding hub in the 19th century, it grew into an industrial center for poultry, sardine and potato processing by the 1950s. People still talk about the feathers that once flew through the air when Belfast touted itself as the “Broiler Capital of the World.”

Today, the 7,000-population city swells with visitors every summer.

While many pass through for lunch or a photo with the turquoise-colored Colonial Theatre topped by a guardian elephant, others stay to soak in this gem of a downtown.

Colburn Shoe Store, owned by the Horne family for five generations, has been at its current location since 1905. The plaque on the façade reading “America’s oldest shoe store” belies the dozens of modern brands stocked inside. It draws shoppers from all across the country.

“We’ve become a destination,” owner Colby Horne says.

With a mix of independent retailers and cozy eateries lining its sloping Main Street, Belfast has also become a destination. With no empty storefronts in sight, the pedestrian-friendly downtown boasts gift shops, galleries, clothing boutiques, a hardware store, a food co-op, a barber shop, three bookstores and a video rental store. But retail is only part of the story in this shire city that’s also a regional service center, with four times as many people commuting in for work than the other way around.

Unlike other coastal towns bisected by U.S. Route 1, a bypass route built in 1962 — controversial at the time — helped preserve Belfast’s walkable downtown with year-round appeal that includes a working waterfront anchored by Front Street Shipyard.

“The stores do not close down, the restaurants stay open and in February we even have an ice festival,” says Dorothy Havey, president and CEO of the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce.

Cold and ice seem far off on a weekday morning in late July, when stores up and down Main Street are doing a brisk business. At Out On a Whimsey Toys, a boy flourishes a toy sword inside this palace of playthings teeming with costumes, stuffed animals and neon-colored NeeDoh brand squishy globs that owner Deborah Hall says are all the rage on TikTok.

Once it was a gift store, “then all of a sudden there was another gift store, and I said, ‘You know, I’ve got to do something different.’ So I pivoted and went with the toys — something no one else was doing,” she says.

In general, Hall says that merchants try not to duplicate each other. The result? “You can come downtown and pretty much find anything you need,” she says.

A few doors down the street, Vinolio is a purveyor of delicacies, including imported olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Peach-flavored balsamic sells well during peach season, while Chablis is a summer favorite, says Veronica Sazera, who owns the store with her husband, Todd. The erstwhile high school sweethearts bought the business in 2021 after moving to Maine from South Florida. They’ve been adding products and décor ever since.

“We just keep bringing in more and more,” Sazera says. The store features products that pay homage to Sazera’s Italian roots, from tinned licorice imported from Sicily to hand-crafted sandwiches on bread that one customer remarks is so tasty it “shatters in your mouth.”

From locals to visitors, Sazera loves chatting with customers and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

“It feels like a miniature big city to me because I can get anything I need within walking distance, and I love that,” she says.

Like Sazera, Denis Howard at Opera House Video Rentals a couple blocks away bought his business from the previous owner. Eight years later, he recently added DVD No. 34,639 to the collection and says that sales are often weather-dependent.

“The hint of a blizzard is our best strategy, but rainy summer days can also be quite successful,” he quips.

Back at Main Street’s storied footwear emporium, Colby Horne credits his store’s success to customer service: “Not just trying to sell you one pair of shoes. I want to sell you 10 throughout the years, and I want you to tell your friends that you had such a great experience with us that they come and visit us as well.”

While retail spaces are snapped up quickly, there’s a unique waterfront property on the market. Made up of two adjoining brick buildings built in 1869, the structure with a striking red, white and blue façade is home to two stores, including Sea Bags. It is listed by Worth Real Estate Inc. for $1.7 million.

“It’s a true opportunity for redevelopment,” says Samuel Mitchell, the listing agent.