With new courts on the way, pickleball is picking up in southern Maine
Photo / Courtesy, The Picklr
The Picklr will be located at 17 Main St., Westbrook, in a former Shaw's supermarket.
Grab your paddles — more pickleball courts are coming to Maine.
The Picklr, an indoor pickleball franchise company headquartered in Utah, is scheduled to open its first Maine club in Westbrook sometime late this year. The courts will open in a former Shaw’s supermarket at 17 Main St. The store closed in 2022.
“Being able to bring pickleball to the Greater Portland area is very exciting,” said Jeff Maguire, owner of the Picklr franchise in Westbrook. "Growing up in New England and loving the area, it is amazing to get the opportunity to bring the life changing sport of pickleball to the state of Maine.
"Whether you are just learning the sport, enjoy playing for the health and the social aspect, or have aspirations to pursue playing in the professional leagues, the Picklr is for you.”
Pickleball, invented in 1965 as a children's backyard game on Bainbridge Island, Wash., is played with a baseball-sized wiffle ball and is sometimes described as a hybrid of tennis, badminton and pingpong.
More than 36.5 million people in the U.S. are estimated to play pickleball, the country's fastest-growing sport. Once considered a fringe pastime, pickleball has gained recent popularity as an easier, more accessible alternative to tennis, with lower nets and smaller courts.
The Picklr has raised $9 million through Series B financing, the company said in June. At the time, the Picklr said it sold more than 300 franchises, and had 92 locations under contract. At the time, the company said it expected to have 1,080 pro-style indoor courts available by the end of 2025.
What to expect
The 64,000-square-foot location will feature 19 indoor premium courts, three of which will be champion-size to accommodate tournament and league play. All the courts will have outdoor surfacing provided by Just Courts, the official court layer for the Professional Pickleball Association.
Planned amenities include a pro shop, private event spaces, lounge areas, warm-up and cool-down spaces and dinking walls. Members will be able to take private and semi-private lessons and clinics.
The club will be open Monday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Other courts in the works
Meanwhile, in South Portland, the Wicked Pickle is a new facility that's in the final stages of construction.
The 24,500-square-foot club will be located at 2401 Broadway.
"We will be opening in December," Tony Miner, the entrepreneur behind the Wicked Pickle venture, told Mainebiz on Wednesday.
Senior Writer Renee Cordes contributed to this article.
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