RETAIL
L.L. Bean plans expansion to enhance production
With L.L. Bean boots in high demand, the Freeport-based retailer is moving into a new 110,000-square-foot warehouse in Lewiston and bringing 100 more jobs with it. The new space is double the size of L.L. Bean’s current production facilities in the Androscoggin County city, according to the AP. The company’s iconic boot is manufactured in just two places – Lewiston and Brunswick. Spokeswoman Caroyln Beem says more than 600,000 Bean boots were sold in 2016 and the company is predicting sales of at least 700,000 pairs in 2017. Read the story.
Three Maine stores announce impending closures
It was a bad week for some of the most recognizable names in retail. On Thursday, news broke that the Sears store in the Turnpike Mall in Augusta is scheduled to close in March, one of 42 locations nationwide being shuttered because the company has struggled financially. The announcement came six days after news that the Kmart in Bangor, part of Sears Holding Inc., was also going to close. The company said poor holiday sales contributed to the decision to trim under-performing stores. Then on Wednesday, Macy’s said it was eliminating more than 10,000 jobs and plans to move forward with 68 store closures – including its store in Bangor – after a disappointing holiday shopping season. The company said consumers’ increasing use of online shopping contributed to lackluster sales in its brick-and-mortar outlets. Read the story.
Auto parts and service chain buys new headquarters
VIP Inc., the parent company of the auto parts and service chain, has purchased a building in Auburn for its new headquarters. VIP Tires and Service, which had been headquartered in Lewiston for 30 years, will move into its new space at 24 Harriman Drive this summer. The larger building will allow the company to better accommodate large gatherings of personnel, such as company-wide meetings and vendor trainings, according to a release from the company. VIP bought the building, formerly occupied by Patrons Oxford Insurance, for $1.375 million. Read the story.
Portland specialty cheese shop to close
The cheese and food specialty shop that has anchored the first floor of the Public Market House in Monument Square for a decade is closing. Kris Horton, owner of K. Horton Specialty Foods, announced on the store’s Facebook page Monday that the store would close and operations of the market “will be handed off to the good people at Kamasouptra,” which occupies an upstairs booth. Horton has owned the specialty shop for 18 years and worked with William Milliken, owner of Maine Beer & Beverage, to open the market space in 2006, when the Portland Public Market, about a block away, closed. The market has become a fixture of downtown Portland, drawing a large weekday lunch crowd of high school and college students as well as office workers. Horton said her decision to close her shop, which typically featured between 150 and 200 different types of cheeses from Maine and across the world, was not an easy one. But Horton said her husband is retired and they wanted to spend more time together. Read the story.
COMMERCIAL FISHERIES
Scarborough increases commercial clamming licenses despite protest
The Scarborough Town Council on Wednesday increased the number of commercial shellfishing licenses to be issued this year, despite protests from Shellfish Conservation Commission leaders who say the town’s soft-shell clam resource is in peril. Commission Chairman David Green said green crabs and milky ribbon worms are decimating the town’s soft-shell clam beds, and a commission dominated by commercial clammers has refused to heed warnings from him and other members. Robert Willette, a commercial clammer who was vice chairman and past chairman of the commission, resigned in protest in December. Green, a commercial clammer who became chairman in November, says he will resign when the commission meets Tuesday. At a time when Green and others believe the town should be restricting access to the town’s embattled clam flats, the commission voted 4-3 in November to recommend adding six commercial licenses, increasing the total from 45 to 51. Read the story.
DMR seeks more authority over lobster investigations
The Maine Department of Marine Resources is drafting legislation that would expand the authority of Marine Patrol officers to covertly install electronic surveillance devices on the boats of fishermen suspected of violating state fishing regulations. The proposal is similar to one that faltered in the Legislature two years ago and is a response to ongoing concerns that some lobstermen are fishing more traps than allowed or engaging in other tactics to skirt Maine’s strict fisheries laws. The proposal also coincides with high-profile turf wars or personal disputes between lobstermen last year that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost or damaged equipment. The language of the bill has not been released, and DMR officials declined to provide specifics until the legislation has been finalized, consistent with a LePage administration policy. But in a general outline, DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols said the proposal would ease restrictions on Marine Patrol officers when they want to install electronic tracking or surveillance equipment on boats as part of investigations. Read the story.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Oxford Networks merger with N.Y. company completed
Oxford Networks, the Lewiston-based telecommunications company, has merged with a New York company following its acquisition by an investment group. The merger, which closed Tuesday but was originally announced in July, creates a 5,000-mile fiber optic network that reaches into Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, according to a release announcing the deal. Financial terms were not disclosed. Oak Hill Capital Partners, an investment group based in Texas, has combined the operations of Oxford with FirstLight Fiber, based in Albany, New York. Novacap and Bank Street Capital Partners, which bought Oxford Networks in 2014, will continue as minority investors in the combined company. Read the story.
TECHNOLOGY
Idexx added to prestigious S&P 500
Idexx Laboratories Inc. has become Maine’s sole representative in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, a stock index of 500 publicly traded companies that is considered a leading bellwether of the U.S. economy. S&P Dow Jones Indices announced late Tuesday in a news release that Westbrook-based Idexx, which makes various diagnostic products for animal health care, would be replacing Minnesota-based St. Jude Medical on the S&P 500 Index after the stock market closed Wednesday. St. Jude is being acquired by another S&P 500 member, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories. Idexx is only the second Maine-based company ever to be included in the index. Unum Corp., now known as Unum Group, was added to the S&P 500 in 1994, about five years before it merged with Provident Cos. in 1999 and relocated its headquarters from Portland to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Idexx Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ayers said Wednesday that he was honored to have the company added to the S&P 500 Index. The company employs 7,000 worldwide, of which 2,300 are in Westbrook. Read the story.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Casco Bay Vending buys competitors
Lewiston-based Casco Bay Vending has acquired two Maine-based competitors, Pine State Vending and Canteen of Maine, for an undisclosed sum, the company said Tuesday. Pine State Vending is a division of Gardiner-based Pine State Trading Co. Canteen of Maine is a franchise of Canteen Corp. of Charlotte, North Carolina, with locations in Portland, Bangor and Lewiston. Neither of the two family-owned businesses was actively looking to sell, according to a Casco Bay news release. However, all three Maine-based companies were approached in the summer of 2016 by an out-of-state company interested in buying them, according to Casco Bay President Ted Morton. That sparked a discussion that eventually led to the deal. Read the story.
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