PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — After more than 15 yrs in small business, Ben LeBlanc is closing up shop on Ben’s Investing Write-up, a retail store that had turn into the area go-to location for searching and out of doors fanatics.
An growing medical cannabis organization from Caribou has purchased the creating.
LeBlanc introduced a going-out-of-company sale Saturday and shut the doors permanently that afternoon. Till then, Ben’s Investing Post was the only shop in the Presque Isle spot to market outdoor recreational garments, footwear, searching rifles and ammunition in the similar spot.
The closure marks the latest in a growing list of longtime enterprises that are closing their doors, citing on the net procuring and challenges with having inventory during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just previous week, Houlton’s last furnishings retail outlet, Furniture and Flooring North, announced that it would shut for identical motives.
The setting up at 719 Main St. has been offered to Richardson Rentals, LLC, which owns and operates Richardson Therapies, a health-related cannabis retail store in Caribou, LeBlanc explained.
Richardson Treatments is searching for acceptance for a medical cannabis license from the Presque Isle City Council, which will vote on the matter for the duration of its Sept. 29 assembly. If accepted, the enterprise will open up its second shop in the previous Buying and selling Publish spot. The organization had formerly been approved for a professional medical marijuana license for 745 Main St., which currently residences the Oriental Pearl restaurant.
LeBlanc said that a number of things, like on line procuring and COVID-19-similar stock shortages, played a position in his choice to offer the retail store. He does not have programs to relocate, though he reported that continues to be a likelihood.
“There was a desire for every thing, not just firearms,” LeBlanc reported. “Between ammunition and guns, clothing and footwear, we just couldn’t get more than enough of the merchandise we desired and required. After we couldn’t get plenty of inventory, we didn’t require to have as many workers.”
Prior to opening Ben’s Investing Publish, LeBlanc labored for Roy’s Army & Navy, a sporting products shop owned by the late Dana Packard. When that retail store closed, LeBlanc ordered the small business, renamed it Ben’s Investing Write-up and relocated to the corner of Chapman Road and Riverside Drive.
Around the many years, LeBlanc’s Key Street spot experienced become a favored place for hunting enthusiasts. LeBlanc said that his favorite reminiscences arrived from assisting folks find specifically the ideal devices for their out of doors adventures.
“I’m heading to skip the little ones that arrived in to get their first firearm or searching boots or to have their to start with animal tagged on our scales,” LeBlanc mentioned. “There were a whole lot of very good recollections. We even had an personnel get married in the keep suitable immediately after we opened.”
Though Presque Isle spot prospects remained supportive in latest several years, LeBlanc observed that on-line buying alternatives designed purchases more easy for people who lived in much more distant locations of Aroostook.
He urged people to continue on supporting domestically owned firms, specifically as the pandemic and on the net purchasing proceed to make operating these types of businesses a problem.
“For companies striving to stay open up, what it will come down to is the people of Aroostook County,” LeBlanc mentioned. “They will determine who will be in this article [in the future].”