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Finances Don't Deter Owner of Topless Coffee Shop

July 28, 2009 - VASSALBORO — In the last month and a half, the owner of a controversial business that was leveled in an arson fire last month says he has collected about $2,000 in donations.

At that rate, it would take Donald Crabtree more than three years to build a new Grand View Topless Coffee Shop, at a cost he estimates to be $50,000.

Crabtree refuses to consider bank loans or financial partners, and the equipment he used for his fall-back business – wholesale lobstering – was also destroyed during the June 3 blaze. Crabtree did not have his building insured, so the fire left him with no income and only a few hundred dollars to his name.

However improbable the odds, Crabtree says he won't give up on rebuilding his business, which featured topless waitresses and waiters serving coffee and doughnuts.

"I got a huge mountain to climb, and each day that goes by, it's pretty discouraging," he said. "We've lost 90 percent of our business, but we're still trying to get everything worked out.

"Some days I just say, the hell with it. But we're trying to do the right thing. A lot of people would like to see us come back."

Finances now remain the key obstacle to rebuilding. On July 14, Crabtree won permission from the Vassalboro Planning Board to construct a new 3,000-square-foot building on the property off Route 3 with expanded capacity to serve up to 80 customers, up from 25. He also plans to build a residence for himself there.

Among the key conditions of approval:

• The hours of operation must be limited to 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. (The former shop closed at 6 p.m.)

• The pile of debris from the old building must be removed one year after the new building opens.

• The exterior of the new building must be complete before it can be occupied.

Board members questioned whether Crabtree would have the financial means to rebuild, citing a town zoning condition that Vassalboro not end up with a "half-built building" if the project isn't completed.

The Planning Board voted 3-2 on the financial question, giving Crabtree the benefit of the doubt that he'll be able to finish a building once he starts.

Paul Mitnik, Vassalboro's code-enforcement officer, said following the July 14 meeting that he was surprised by the Planning Board's approval.

"He said right out he didn't want to take a loan out from the bank and doesn't want any partners and doesn't have any money," Mitnik said. "I don't think he's financially capable, but that's just my opinion. I'm not decision-making."

Mitnik thinks sympathy for Crabtree played a factor in the approval. Crabtree himself made that point to the board repeatedly, saying he had a successful business until it was taken away from him.

"Everybody's sorry for him," Mitnik said.

Crabtree hopes to start on a new building himself this summer, with the help of about eight builders and laborers he knows from working as a builder in Ellsworth for 15 years.

But Crabtree needs money for building supplies. He's critical of town officials for raising questions about his recent attempts at collecting donations on his property, which have included former waitresses washing cars and giving away coffee under a canopy in the parking lot.

Crabtree said the town has asked the state Fire Marshal's Office to inspect the remains of the building and determine whether it's "unsafe for the public."

If that is the case, Crabtree says he could be forced to make repairs or cease his donation-gathering attempts.

When does he hope to have a new topless coffee shop built?

"I'd like to be in before snow falls," he said, "but I just got to get everything in line here."

By SCOTT MONROE, Morning Sentinel July 27, 2009


Lakes:
Regions: Belgrade, Mid Coast


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