Maine’s two enclosed regional malls are Maine Mall in South Portland and Bangor Mall in Bangor. The areas surrounding both of these malls have significant big box and mid-size box activity. These two areas have the greatest concentration of retail in the state of Maine. Augusta is the area with the next largest concentration of retail. Although Augusta does not have an enclosed regional mall, almost every major big and mid-size box retailer is located in this market making it a very strong regional corridor. The fourth Maine regional retail market is found in the adjacent towns of Topsham and Brunswick. Between these two towns there is a significant concentration of boxes that make the trade area regional in nature.

Other than the markets of Portland and to a lesser degree Bangor and Augusta, the trade areas for most of Maine’s retail corridors are rural in nature and have a very low population density. This results in very large trade areas where the customer is accustomed to driving long distances to shop. Auburn, Biddeford, Windham, Waterville, Bath and Rockland are each community markets with varying degrees of strength and a scattering of big and / or mid-size boxes that meet this description.

Along the Maine coast, tourist towns such as Kennebunkport, Old Orchard Beach, Seal Harbor and Bar Harbor all have villages thriving with local retail and restaurants, particularly during the summer and fall. Also focusing on the tourist business are the two major outlet destinations of Kittery and Freeport. L. L. Bean is headquartered in Freeport and has served as the anchor tenant for the town’s expansion of its’ organic core main street real estate to accommodate all shapes and sizes of outlet retailers with a very real New England village feel.

Grocery stores operating in Maine include Shaw’s, Hannaford, Market Basket, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Walmart Supercenter, and Save-A-Lot.

Maine’s economy has been historically based on industries that are associated with Maine’s abundance of natural resources. The most obvious economic impact of Maine’s natural resources is tourism. Driven by Maine’s 3,400 miles of ocean shoreline and over 3,100 coastal islands;  boating and fishing on Moosehead or Sebago Lake; whitewater rafting on the Kennebec, Dead or Penobscot Rivers; skiing and snowboarding at Sugarloaf or Sunday River;  snowmobiling on the 4,000 mile Interconnected Trail System which accesses an additional 10,000 miles of groomed trails; or hiking the coastline and mountains of Acadia National Park; these natural resources have created a tourist industry that has existed and flourished for over 100 years in the state of Maine.  It is no wonder it says “Vacationland” on the bottom of Maine’s license plates.

Also tied to Maine’s wealth of natural resources, the forestry, dairy  and potato industries have been a major employment base in Maine since the 1700’s. Not only is the  growing these products significant but so is their subsequent conversion to consumer products via the manufacturing process. Ninety percent of Maine is covered by forest, the highest percentage of any state, including over 12 million acres in the northern portion of the state where few people live.  Ninety five percent of this forest is privately owned, thirty three percent by family forestland owners and sixty one percent by private companies. The federal government owns only one percent. Approximately 500,000 acres of forested land is harvested each year. Although the paper industry has suffered a downturn due to the digital age, many of Maine’s remaining paper mills have retooled and brought in advanced manufacturing systems to be competitive in today’s world. Maine’s paper mills convert these harvested forest products to everything from building and finished lumber to all varieties of standard and specialized papers; cardboard boxes, containers and specialty packaging; paper bags; and paper cups for hot and cold beverages.

Potatoes are Maine’s largest agricultural crop. The potatoes are harvested and converted to consumer products such as french fries, potato chips or ready to cook mashed potatoes by companies such as  McCain Foods or Pineland Farms. Dairy products, aquaculture and fruit crops are next in order of importance to Maine’s agribusiness. Maine is the leading producer of brown eggs in the United States and also produces 99% of the blueberries in the nation. Aquaculture is led by the lobster industry with 90% of the country’s lobster supply being caught off the coast of Maine. Maine is also the second largest producer of maple syrup in the U.S.

In addition to the manufacturing of products related to Maine’s natural resources, there are numerous companies of all sizes whose focus is on manufacturing in the areas of  specialty metal products, mechanical components, aerospace and plastics. These companies have upgraded their facilities to modern technologies and advance manufacturing techniques to insure a strong future not only for Maine’s skilled manufacturing workforce but for the engineering and design professionals that are needed for these advanced manufacturing concerns. Nowhere is this more evident than at Bath Iron Works (General Dynamics) which is one of the largest employers in Maine and produces the next class of U.S. Navy destroyers and warships. This type of high end manufacturing is prevalent throughout the state and is indicative of Maine’s expansion from a natural resource based economy to one that is more reflective of today’s knowledge based industries. Consistent with this theme are Maine employers such as The Jackson Laboratory (Biomed), UNUM (Financial Services), Tyler Technologies (Software) and IDEXX Laboratories (Veterinary Biomed), that are taking advantage of Maine’s quality of life, educated workforce and low cost of doing business.

To say that Acadia National Park is a beautiful place is somewhat of a misnomer. The park is actually a series of beautiful places, all housed on different parts of Acadia.  The park is made up of three main areas: Most of Mt Desert Island, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula and the remote Isle au Haut. It is here that all the elements of Maine’s varied natural beauty – rocky coasts and granite mountains, forest and lakes, waves and wildlife – come together in one spectacular package. If you make it to the top of Cadillac Mountain before dawn you will be able to be the first in the United States to see the sunrise that day.

Designated as a National Park in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson, Acadia became the first national park east of the Mississippi River, and the first national park to be comprised of totally donated lands.  Its’ 47,000 acres accommodate 3,000,000 visitors annually, encompassing some of the most beautifully preserved land in the United States. In 1910 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. bought a summer home in nearby Seal Harbor. He quickly began to appreciate the beauty of what would become Acadia National Park. He was concerned that with the advent of the automobile the beauty of the park could be permanently scarred. From 1915 to 1933 Rockefeller designed and constructed, at his own expense, a road system for visitors to the park. He personally donated 10,000 acres of land for this purpose. Known to this day as the Carriage Roads, there are 57 miles of crushed stone roads for use by hikers, bikers, horse riders and horse drawn carriages that are free from automobile traffic.

Whether it is Eagle Lake or Echo Lake; the Ocean Path walking trail: Thunder Hole where waves kick up 40 feet high with the sound of thunder; hiking up The Beehive, The Bubbles or Penobscot Mountain for incredible views of Sand Beach, Great Head and Jordan Pond; sailing through “the Narrows” of Somes Sound; or just enjoying the quaint villages of Seal Harbor and Bar Harbor where in the summer months you will find the sailboats and yachts of the rich and famous anchored next to working lobster boats; Acadia National Park is one of a kind.