Paul Sottery takes a selfie with Mike Hill, left, Matt Monaghan, center, and Ed and Barbara Anania, behind the counter, on Friday to mark the closing of the deli and store that was started by Ed’s father in 1963. 

Barbara Anania cleans stickers off the entrance door to Anania’s Variety in Portland shortly before the popular deli closed for good Friday. Barbara and her husband, Ed, decided earlier this year to retire so they can travel and spend more time with their grandchildren. 

Laurie Mathes feeds her dog Lily a treat given to her by Ed Anania, left, at Anania’s on its last day. Mathes, who lives near the store, walks Lily every morning and comes into the store for coffee and for Lily’s treat. “It’s a nice way to start the day with great people,” she says. 

Ed Anania weighs pizza dough while portioning it on at Anania’s Variety on Congress Street. He and Barbara married in 1985, and after starting a family, she decided to leave her job as a nurse to start an in-house bakery at the store called Sweets ‘n Treats. They took over full ownership of the store when Ed’s father retired in 2007. 

Jay and Sandy Imler, of Scarborough, eat their breakfast sandwiches at Anania’s Variety on Congress Street on Friday, the last day of operation for the popular store and deli. 

Ed and Barbara Anania say goodbye to a customer on their last day of operating Anania’s Variety. 

A plaque against a window at Anania’s Variety shows that it had been voted best deli/sandwich in Portland for 21 years as of 2023. 

Devora Wharton hugs Barbara Anania just before the Ananias closed the Congress Street store permanently. Wharton has been a customer since 1998 and was a fan of Barbara’s baked goods. 

Barbara Anania talks with a customer on the closing day of Anania’s. The store was opened 61 years ago by her father-in-law, Ed Anania, Sr. and his family. 

Johnny Swisher, of Portland, gets coffee at Anania’s Variety after a morning of surfing at Higgins Beach. 

Barbara Anania makes a sign telling customers that Anania’s Variety is closed permanently. 

Ed Anania holds up a sign on the door of Anania’s Variety announcing the store’s closure as his wife Barbara gets ready to tape it to the glass. Ed started working in the original Anania’s with his father when he was 10 years old and ended up working full time after graduating from college. 

Barbara Anania hugs longtime customer Joe Donahue shortly before the store closed permanently. Originally, the Ananias had planned to close the store at the end of December but ended up selling it early and closing on November 15. “When they moved the date up on us, it hurt us a little bit,” Donahue said. “We’re happy for them, though.”