Anyone who's spent any time around the restaurant business learns one thing fast: it's a tough way to make a buck. More than half of all restaurants close or change hands within three years of opening.
Most restaurants don't last, which is why what happened in Lincolnville Beach Thursday is a story that's out of the ordinary.
The Lobster Pound restaurant began in the 1920s as a lobster shack and evolved into a restaurant.
Times changed, expenses climbed and the business suffered setbacks. In 2016 the owners of more than 40 years shuttered the place and filed for bankruptcy.
On Thursday, March 9th, the landmark was sold at auction.
The buyer, Danny LaFayette of Hampden, paid $700,000. He runs a chain of hotels and plans to open the building as a restaurant. His wife used to dig clams on Lincolnville Beach. He says he bought the restaurant mostly for sentimental reasons.