The Freeport restaurant has leased the front of its building to a high-end textile retailer.

FREEPORT – It might be smaller, but Freeport’s Jameson Tavern is still serving local diners as it has since 1982.

Last week, the restaurant – housed in the historic 1779 building where Maine separated from Massachusetts and became a state in its own right – completed the conversion of the front section, formerly used to house dining rooms, into retail space. It’s now home to Brahms Mount, a Maine-based company that weaves its own fabrics and sells a wide range of high-end blankets, throws and assorted products using natural fibers.

Jameson Tavern is now in the back section of the building, in what used to be known as the restaurant’s Tap Room.

Jameson Tavern still owns the entire building, said Michele Moyen, the restaurant’s office manager. She listed several reasons behind Jameson’s owner John Stiles’ decision to downsize and lease out its dining rooms for retail space: “The economy, the amount of restaurants in Freeport (as well as a) loss of sales.”

She said the move was designed to make the business stronger, as the tavern has stayed relatively busy. Moyen added that longtime customers would notice some changes in the menu, but for the most part, things have stayed the same.

“The menu is a little different,” she said. “The menu has been downsized a little bit. We still have appetizers, sandwiches, salads and dinners. We still try to offer the same mixture of seafood, pasta, beef, hamburgers, sandwiches, appetizers, nachos and things like that. And we have entertainment every Friday night.”

Moyen said that the new retail section of the building, which preserves many of the historic parts of the old building, is something to see.

“Everyone who has been in Jameson Tavern in the past should absolutely go into Brahms Mount because between our part of the demolition and their part of the refurbishment, it is simply breathtaking,” she said.

Moyen said that there are plans to do some sort of coupon exchange with Brahms Mount so that customers of the restaurant would go into the store to do some shopping after eating in the tavern and vice versa.

Moyen said she hopes all of Jameson’s old customers come back into the tavern and that some new ones who are shopping at the new Brahms Mount store find their way in, as well. She said that she has high hopes for the future of Jameson Tavern.

“We’re extremely optimistic,” she said. “We hope for wonderful things.”

Representatives from Brahms Mount did not return messages from the Tri-Town Weekly seeking comment.

Freeport’s Jameson Tavern restaurant is now sharing space with retailer Brahms Mount.