Maine’s oldest bookstore opening three new locations

Mon, 04/26/2021 - 10:30am

Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops has announced that it is opening three new locations this summer. The new stores will be located in the Topsham Fair Mall between Reny’s and Lamey Wellehan, in the Windham Mall beside Reny’s, and in a freestanding building in Rockland on Maverick Street between McDonald’s and Hannaford.

“A year ago when all our stores had to close because of the pandemic, we thought the world as we knew it was ending,” said Jeff Curtis, CEO and co-owner of Sherman’s. “But when the Governor and Dr. Shah said it was safe to reopen, our team did a great job of creating a healthy shopping environment for our customers and themselves, and our customers really appreciated being able to come in and browse. The resulting surge in business left us looking for growth opportunities.”

Sherman’s permanently closed its Camden store at the beginning of the pandemic. Amazing customer support during the year, both in stores and online, led to a search for a new location to replace the closed Camden store. “We went looking for an opportunity to open a new store and found three opportunities instead. We couldn’t decide between them, so we decided to open all three!” Curtis said.

“We are especially excited to be creating at least 15 good jobs for Maine booksellers,” said Maria Boord Curtis, Director of Operations and co-owner of Sherman’s. “This growth also creates career advancement opportunities for our current team. As a result, Sherman’s is now hiring for various positions at the new locations as well as at all five existing locations in Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, Damariscotta, Freeport, and Portland.”

Sherman’s was founded in Bar Harbor 135 years ago in 1886 and in addition to being Maine’s oldest bookstore is one of the 10 oldest bookstores in the United States. In addition to being complete general interest bookstores, Sherman’s carries a wide selection of stationery, cards, puzzles, games, toys, and gifts, many made right here in Maine.

For more information, contact Jeff Curtis, jeff@shermans.com or 207-557-0187.