ELLSWORTH, Maine — Business in Ellsworth is booming.
"Ellsworth is really at an exciting point in its development. There is a lot of energy around the city. Specifically, I would say around the downtown district. We have a lot of new community members that are doing a lot of different volunteer projects so voices are being amplified. People's vision for this city is really being heard, I would say by the business owners," Cara Romano, Executive Director of Heart of Ellsworth, said.
The Heart of Ellsworth is a nonprofit focusing on the success of downtown Ellsworth. To combat vacancies in the downtown area, Heart of Ellsworth chose to use pop-up shops over the holiday seasons. The idea worked so well, that a particular store named Elizabeth's decided to make Ellsworth their permanent location after their pop-up shop residency was over.
"Some of those shops and some eateries that ended up after the month-long pop-up session, people end up deciding that they wanted to stay here," Romano said.
Susan Nordman, the owner of the store called Bliss, kept her store intact in Ellsworth in its infancy despite the pandemic. She justified her decision making stating, "Ellsworth had a lot of potential and you could see the momentum starting to build."
NEWS CENTER Maine was able to speak with John Powles, the owner of the store John Edwards. Powles has been in business in Ellsworth for over four decades.
He attributes his business success to the people of Ellsworth. "They've supported me for all these years," Powles said.