Business Notes

Painting gnomes at Hammer & Stain; appliances awaiting their next assignment at Main St. Appliance.

Photos: Hammer & Stain and Zendelle Bouchard

By Zendelle Bouchard

Openings, Moves & Expansions; Subway Closes

Downtown

A brand-new business opened this past weekend at Main Street Marketplace (formerly Midtown Mall). Hammer & Stain York County offers evening and weekend DIY crafting and art workshop experiences. At their inaugural workshop, participants painted ceramic Christmas decorations including trees, sleighs and more. Some of the other workshops planned for November include seaglass and retro ceramic Christmas trees and cozy knit blankets. Visit their website for more info and to sign up:

Business has been booming at Ted’s Fried Clams, and owner Jason Cole expects to expand into a larger space so he can bring back Rock House Ice Cream. He plans to keep the Sanford location open after the Shapleigh location reopens in 2025.

Springvale

The long-anticipated Meeting Grounds Café will have its grand opening on Monday, Dec. 2 at 6 am. The restaurant, located in the former home of Springvale Florist, will serve gourmet coffee, breakfast sandwiches and pastries, as well as soup, salad, and sandwiches.

South Sanford

Main St. Appliance at the Center for Shopping is about to get a lot more visible when their new sign is delivered and installed in the next week or so. Owner Phil Attardi, who moved operations from his former location in Marden’s Plaza a few months ago, is planning a grand opening after the New Year, but is open now offering scratch-and-dent new appliances as well as used ones. Service on all makes and models, regardless of where you purchased them, is also available.

Also, at the Center for Shopping, construction workers have finished demolition of the interior of the former Marshall’s store, which will be remodeled to become the home of the newest Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. Ollie’s is a discount retailer with more than 500 locations across the U.S.

The former Smitty’s Cinema in that plaza has also been gutted, and rumors are that it will be rebuilt into a Harbor Freight store.

Exterior construction on the new Starbucks, in the former Bank of America building, has largely wrapped up, and crews are now working hard to get the interior ready to open. They are hiring now.

Just down the street, OTTO Pizza is also hiring and remodeling the former Country Egg Café location, with plans to open in November.

ROC Upholstery and Furniture Repair has moved from its South Sanford location to a new, larger space at 424 Alfred Rd. (Route 4), in the former home of Pip’s.

Subway Closings

The Subway restaurants at the Center for Shopping and in Springvale abruptly closed this week, along with several other locations in southern Maine run by the same franchisee. Employees were not given advance notice. Signs on the doors say the stores are temporarily closed and will reopen soon. The parent corporation has closed more than 6,500 locations across the country in the past eight years, including several in Maine that later reopened.