Boothbay Harbor is a popular destination for boaters. Between the hundreds of local fishing boats that make the harbor their home port, and the pleasure boats that visit and tie up at docks for days and weeks during the summer, there’s a definite need for boating supplies.

Now there's a marine supply store, accessible by car or boat, for fishermen and boaters to get pretty much anything they need to keep their boats running and working properly.

The Boothbay Lobster Wharf, known for its seafood and other dishes that can be enjoyed at a picnic table on a working wharf where lobster boats do their daily business, has opened a new store selling commercial fishing supplies, equipment and gear.

Owners Tom and Susan Philbrick, and manager Drew Wallace, came up with the idea for the practical store last winter. The closest places to buy marine supplies, till now, have been in West Bath, Brunswick, Thomaston or Waldoboro. “In the middle of summer, with all the Route One traffic, it could take a lot of time to get supplies,” Wallace said.

Wallace said all the supplies come from Brooks Trap Mill in Thomaston. “We have everything to do with fishing — runners, vents, rope, pliers, oil pans, boots, gloves, knives and foul weather gear — anything and everything you might need.”

A delivery truck comes from Brooks Trap Mill once a week, every Tuesday, so if something is ordered on Monday, it's next-day delivery.

Right now the store is stocked with supplies needed for commercial fishing, but soon there will be yachting supplies available too — fenders/bumpers, rope and line, jackets and other necessities for recreational boaters.

There will be oils and filters in stock for fishermen and recreational boaters to do their oil changes, too. Right now they have to go somewhere out of town to get oil change supplies. This will eliminate the travel time, not to mention the cost of gas to get there.

”We're still in the beginning stages, just starting to build it up,” Wallace said. “If someone comes in looking for something we don’t have in stock, I tell them we’ll have it the next Tuesday. Eventually we're going to have a little bit of everything.”

Wallace said he's surprised no one in Boothbay Harbor has done this sooner. “I thought it was a brilliant idea,” he said. “Tom has been friends with Stephen Brooks forever, so it just made sense. And Stephen has done a lot to help us get this going.”

And after the restaurant at the wharf closes, they'll start building traps. They’ve already started getting orders.

Call 207-633-4900 to place an order. It will be at the store on the following Tuesday. In an emergency, they will get overnight deliveries, via UPS.

The owners are looking for a reliable person to man the store.