Category: Closings

Hero sandwich shop in Monument Square has gone out of business, according to a report from the Press Herald.

Hero, the sandwich shop at 30 City Center co-owned by Todd Bernard of Empire and the owners of Otto, closed abruptly Monday after having been open just five months.

The Bangor Daily News has also posted a report on the closure of Hero and next steps for the Otto restaurant group.

Though Hero opened with a bang, the fervor in Maine’s foodiest city was hard to maintain. “There was not enough marketing behind it. We had a lot of momentum out of the gate, but not a sustained, concerted effort,” said Brody, who felt Hero’s story got lost in the fast-changing foodscape.

Update: Co-founder Todd Bernard had sold his interest in Hero to the owners of Otto a month prior to the closure of the restaurant.

The Press Herald reports that Sala Thai is scheduled to close July 16th.

According to a letter to customers posted on the doors and at the bar by owner Jiraporn Thanop, the landlord has sold the building at 1363 Washington Ave., which is near the corner of Washington and Allen avenues. The restaurant’s last day of business will be July 16.

The longtime neighborhood sandwich shop, Vaughan Street Variety, closed yesterday.

The Dry Dock restaurant is closed. A sign in the door indicates that the restaurant “will reopen under new ownership and after renovations.”

The Dry Dock has been in business since 1983. There’s no official word yet on who the new owners are.

The Bangor Daily News and Press Herald report that Paul’s Food Center will be closing in April.

“While we regret that for a variety of business and personal reasons the family can no longer continue to operate the store we are proud and thankful to have been an important part of Congress Street for 40 years,” read a statement released by the Trusiani family Friday afternoon. “We welcome the new owners and wish them the best with their endeavors. Our family continues to grieve and asks that people respect our privacy.”

Little Lad’s Cafe on Congress has closed. It was located at 482 Congress, both that retail space and the one immediate adjacent to it are now vacant.

The Little Lad’s brand popcorn was not produced onsite and so presumably will not be impacted.

The Press Herald reports that Borealis is closing their location on Ocean Street in Portland on Saturday.

Jim Amaral, the well-known Maine baker behind the bistro and the larger Borealis Breads bakeries in Wells and Waldoboro, said the building is owned by his brother, a Massachusetts real estate developer who has decided to sell the property. Amaral said he will focus on the wholesale side of Borealis, “which accounts for most of our business anyway and has been very, very busy the past couple of years.”

The space will be available for lease and Amaral “hopes another food business or restaurant will take over the space and perhaps add dinner service with beer and wine in the evening.”

GoBerry posted a message on instagram yesterday that they “are sad to announce that at the end of September, GoBerry Portland will be closing”.

GoBerry is located at 399 Fore Street across from Gritty’s and right near the intersection with Exchange Street. They’ve been in business in Portland since October 2011.

The new issue of The Bollard includes an article on the closing of Mama’s CrowBar.

It might be easy to let a bar in a city full of them close without much acknowledgement, shrugging and muttering something like, “Oh well, guess that’s how business goes these days.” But Mama’s was not just a bar. This place had a significant impact on its rapidly changing neighborhood, on the landscape of craft beer on the peninsula, and on the community that gathered around its taps. And the CrowBar isn’t simply going out of business. Its closure is the culmination of a long and tangled legal battle between Henley and the building’s owners — which is a particularly painful way for a well-loved establishment to meet its demise.

Today is Mama’s official last day in business.

Update: the Press Herald published an article on Tuesday about Mama’s CrowBar.