SACO — When Peter Scontras closed the Way Way Store for good last month after nearly 100 years in business, he wasn’t sure what he would do with the iconic shop’s buckets of penny candy.

Then he decided to pay a visit to Melissa Colley, owner of The Saco Scoop ice cream shop. She had avoided selling candy before to not encroach on the Way Way Store’s territory, Scontras said, and he liked her business mindset and efforts to be active in the community.

“I asked her if she’d like to get into the candy business, and she mentioned how expensive it is,” Scontras said. “I said, ‘What if we donated it to you,’ and she immediately welled up.” 

Now, Colley will sell penny candy at The Saco Scoop, out of the Way Way Store’s antique candy counter.

“It’s like a phoenix rising from the ashes,” Scontras said. “People thought we were dead and buried, but here we are.”

“We’re putting a little Way Way into The Saco Scoop,” Colley added. 

The iconic Way Way Store — named for being “way, way” out of downtown Saco — closed last month after Scontras announced his retirement. He and his wife, Bridget, ran the shop from 2011 until her death last fall. In addition to penny candy, the store was known for its antique goods, ice cream and original-recipe Moxie.

“This will be Moxie headquarters now,” Scontras said Thursday at The Saco Scoop. “It’s amazing how many cases of Moxie we sold out of that store.” 

That’s also something Scontras likes about Colley: her moxie. 

“I’m really impressed with Melissa,” he said. “It’s really good to find someone who thinks like you do.”

SPECIAL TO THE COMMUNITY

The Saco Scoop began as a nonprofit in 2018, as an endeavor of the Saco Main Street economic development agency. 

“It was like a community event that never ended,” Colley said. 

In 2022, Saco Main Street decided to sell the business. Colley, who said she “wasn’t done playing Saco Scoop,” bought it. 

“I just couldn’t see myself not being here,” she said. 

For the past four years, Colley has run the shop while also hosting fundraising events and activities and encouraging other small businesses to host pop-up shops in her space. 

On Thursday, Emily O’Brien, the owner of the art, crystals and reiki healing shop All Hearts Everything, hosted one such event and recalled her years of support for both The Saco Scoop and the Way Way Store.

“I grew up going to the Way Way Store with my siblings, whenever we were allowed,” said O’Brien, who grew up in Old Orchard Beach. “I remember the penny candy. It was actually a penny, and we’d come home with bags of it.” 

Years later, she got married at The Saco Scoop.

“It’s really special to see a part of the Way Way Store here,” she said. 

She’s not the only one who feels that way.

“People come in here, and they’re almost in tears,” Colley said. “They say, ‘Wow, it’s not going to disappear!’” 

Scontras said he gets emotional knowing that generations to come will get to enjoy some of the Way Way Store.

“To think that we’ve done something that means something, that’s got roots and depth to it, it’s so satisfying,” he said. “And to know that it’s going to continue.” 

‘EPIC’ YARD SALE

While a little piece of the Way Way Store will now remain in downtown Saco, anyone interested in owning a piece of its history can find it at the store’s “epic” yard sale next month — and get a taste of The Saco Scoop’s Maine-made ice cream.

The yard sale will offer a wide array of antique goods from the store, including coffee grinders, an old cider mill, antique meat grinders, old signs and antique tools. It’s scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 9 and 10 at 93 Buxton Road.

The sale will be a bit of a “goodbye” to the Way Way Store, but Scontras is glad to know a piece of its storied history will live on at The Saco Scoop.

“We’re calling it the Way Way Store 2026,” Scontras said.