THE OWNERS OF Bamforth Marine, which has been located at 200 Maine St. for decades since Coral Bamforth opened Bamforth’s Auto Electric Service in 1924, say it’s time to relocate. The Brunswick business has been given until the end of the month to get off abutting property it has used for many years. Gary Favreau, below, owns Bamforth Marine with his brother, Scott.
“We’ve been using that property adjacent to our building and around the back since I was knee high to a grasshopper you might say,” said Gary Favreau, who owns Bamforth with his brother, Scott.
Bamforth uses that space to park the boats it is servicing, and has done so for decades, with Hannaford’s permission.
BAMFORTH MARINE has outgrown its space on Maine Street in Brunswick and is looking for a new location. The pressure is on as the business could soon lose access to abutting land it has used for decades, which may prevent employees from being able to get boats into the shop.
Bamforth may be a victim of change, as downtown Maine Street has become a popular destination in recent years with its array of eclectic restaurants and boutiques.
As a result, parking at Hannaford is getting tighter, according to company spokesman Michael Norton, something that “wouldn’t have been envisioned many years ago.”
“Now people who work for us are parking pretty far from the store,” Norton said.
Hannaford is looking for as few as 12 additional parking spots, but that’s enough so that the supermarket can no longer offer its space to Bamforth, Norton said.
Losing access to that property means Bamforth has no way of getting boats into his shop, Favreau said. An early engineering design Favreau said he was shown shows a chain link fence running across the back of his building.
Favreau’s grandfather, Coral Bamforth, opened the business in 1924 as Bamforth’s Auto Electric Service. In the late 1940s, the company started moving into marine outboard motors and boats. By the 1980s, Favreau said Bamforth started doing more marine than automotive work, and then he and his brother moved completely into marine.
Bamforth sells boats, motors, parts and offers boat and motor repair, winterization and storage. It is the oldest Evinrude Outboard Motors dealer in Maine.
Hannaford moved in behind Bamforth in 1995.
Where to now?
“We need to go somewhere else,” Favreau said. “We have outgrown this space many, many years ago and just have not been able to find a place to go that we could financially afford.”
That may be easier said than done. The cost of land and a new building would cost between $2 million and $3 million at a time when he said he should be thinking about retirement.
Although he owns seven acres along Route 123 in Brunswick, where he stores 160 boats, it isn’t zoned to allow a repair facility. Neither have a number of the other sites he’s investigated.
Hannaford has granted Favreau extensions, he said, but got his final notice in August that their agreement would end Dec. 31.
While he is looking at other options, a solution may not pan out for another six months to a year. He also has someone willing to buy his store on Maine Street when he relocates.
“All I need is more time,” Favreau said.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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