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Wanted: One ‘Hot Spot’ Coffee Shop for Biddeford

December 18, 2011 - Biddeford - To successfully revitalize Biddeford's downtown, particularly Main Street, which has about a dozen empty storefronts, the area must attract people. To get the people, there must be something to attract them. There you have the classic chicken-and-egg quandry that's hampered development in the city's core.

Now, the Heart of Biddeford is engaged in an innovative social media campaign to bring a new coffee shop to downtown, preferably on Main Street. The effort mirrors a successful attempt by the city of Waterville to get an Indian restaurant to locate there, according to Delilah Poupore, Heart of Biddeford's executive director.

"In the many discussions we've had during the master planning process and with our Business Enhancement Committee, what comes up over and over again is the need for a hot spot, a coffee shop in downtown," Poupore said this week. "It's got to a be a place with great coffee and teas - a real connecting place where people can get together and hang out."

In order to gauge the support for such a place in town and to learn what people would want to see in a new coffee shop, the Heart of Biddeford has posted several survey questions on a Facebook page dedicated to bringing a coffee place to downtown.

Most people who answered the questions said they're looking for a great cup of coffee and they're willing to pay about the same amount it would cost at national chains like Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. In addition, most people said what would draw them the most is the chance to meet up with friends and access to free Wi-Fi.

"We know that hours will be a key factor. It should be open both before work and after dinner," Poupore said. "We believe it should also have several types and varieties of coffee, like lattes and espresso. We would also like it to have couches, comfortable chairs and tables for laptops."

In addition, she said, the coffee shop owner should also be willing to hang the work of local artists on its walls and be part of the monthly ArtWalk through downtown. And, it should also offer live music and "definitely" be open after events at City Theater so "people would have a place to go and get coffee and cheesecake."

There have been a few coffee shops in downtown during the past several years, but each and every one of them has closed for one reason or another, Poupore said. The most recent to close was the Oh Baby Café, which was located at 140 Main St. Although Perk will be reopening in the North Dam Mill soon, Poupore said, it would likely only serve those who live and work in the mill and would not attract people to Main Street, which is the purpose of a new coffee shop in downtown.

"In general, we are looking for incremental changes," Poupore said. "When people begin to see that it's profitable to be open after 5 p.m., then the businesses down here will start to stay open later."

Both Poupore and Daniel Stevenson, Biddeford's director of economic development, agree that what the downtown needs is a broader mix of businesses in clusters that complement each other. For instance, Poupore said, it would make sense for a women's clothing store to locate nearby Forever Fit, which is located at 116 Main St. and offers Pilates and personal training.

"Ideally, we want businesses that would support those living and working in downtown," Stevenson said. "That would likely include clothing stores, maybe a pharmacy and other specialty stores. What we want is to get people walking up and down a Main Street that has full storefronts."

According to Mike Manos, chairman of the Heart of Biddeford's Business Enhancement Committee, "a coffee shop would be a great start in not only bringing more businesses to downtown, but also attracting students from the University of New England."

Manos said the ultimate goal of his committee is to get the "right mix of businesses" so that people will not just stop at one place on Main Street, like their bank, and then leave, but actually park and run several errands at once.

"I think this Facebook campaign is a great way to reach out to the community and also show any potential owners that there's actually interest and support out there," he added.

Manos said the crowds drawn by the community events Heart of Biddeford puts on show that people are willing to come downtown if there's something to do.

Reilly's Bakery, owned by Mike Reilly, is the only place on Main Street where people can grab a cup of coffee and a sweet treat to go with it. Reilly had not heard about the Heart of Biddeford's campaign to lure a coffee shop to downtown, but said it sounded like a good idea - especially since such a place would not necessarily be a direct competitor. Reilly's doesn't offer Wi-Fi or live entertainment and there's not room enough in the bakery to put in comfortable places to lounge.

"I don't believe a new coffee shop would take away from my business," Reilly said. "It sounds like it would be completely different. What we need is more customers and more businesses down here would bring more people in."

It's unlikely the regular early morning coffee klatch at Reilly's, which draws both residents and the city's movers and shakers, would be much affected by a new coffee shop. And, Poupore said, "everybody loves Reilly's. They have great coffee. This is not designed to take away from Reilly's."

Reilly said a lot of things have combined to hurt Main Street. The poor economy has definitely played a role, but he also blames the Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash incinerator for driving people away from downtown, as well as the construction of new shopping centers, such as Biddeford Crossing.

"It seems like people just don't like to get out of their cars and walk anymore," he said.

In addition to a new coffee shop, the Business Enhancement Committee agreed at a meeting Monday afternoon that other ideal businesses for downtown would include a kitchen store with an onsite kitchen to conduct demonstrations and classes; a gift, novelty and card store featuring Maine-made products; a shoe store with a cobbler; and a wine and cheese shop, with perhaps an artisanal cheesemaker on site.

For his part, newly installed Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant said downtown needs an ice cream parlor and a hot dog or hamburger stand. He also believes specialty stores that offer personal services and quality goods could compete with the national chains at Biddeford Crossing. Casavant also would like to see a high-end restaurant that would cater to business people, which would also have a bar area "suitable for meetings and conversation."

Poupore said during the next year, the Heart of Biddeford also hopes to host a series of pop-up shops in one or more of the empty storefronts. This effort would be similar to a contest it ran before Thanksgiving, during which two groups of students, one from the University of Southern Maine and one from Catherine McAuley High School, ran an ice cream shop and a farmers market on Main Street for a month.

Poupore said the definition of downtown, as used by the Heart of Biddeford, means Main Street, along with parts of Alfred and Elm streets. She said the mills along the Saco River are also considered to be part of downtown, but Main Street is "clearly the hub of downtown activity."

Poupore said that even with a Dunkin' Donuts on Elm Street and Reilly's on Main Street, there would be room for a new coffee shop in the downtown.

"That's one of the things that we're trying to show with the Facebook campaign," she said. "We're trying to show there is support in the community for this."

The key message that Heart of Biddeford is trying to get across, she added, is that "Main Street is wide open to opportunity."

Kate Irish Collins, Sun Chronicle, December 2011


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