Aubuchon Hardware christens Stevens Avenue store
It's not as stressful as when he was patrolling the streets as a South Portland police officer, and for Howard Bagley offering home-improvement advice at Portland's new Aubuchon Hardware store is a new way to help the public.
"It's a lot of fun working here," Bagley said Friday before a grand opening ceremony for Portland's new Aubuchon Hardware store at 832 Stevens Ave.
Bagley was one of about a dozen employees who helped officially open Aubuchon's new store — in lieu of a ribbon cutting, Chairman and CEO William E. Aubuchon III held metal clippers and symbolically cut a chain. The store has been open since Sept. 1, when Aubuchon vacated its old location at 695 Forest Ave.
"We were at that location for 30 years and we just outgrew it," said Gary Whitmore, manager of the new store at the corner of Stevens Avenue and Forest Avenue.
"This was an existing building," Whitmore said. "It started off actually as a lumber store years ago so it's returned to its roots."
The sales floor doubled from 4,200 square feet to 8,300 square feet, and there's additional space outside, he said.
In an era of big-box stores, Aubuchon Hardware promotes its employees' knowledge and personalized customer service.
"We like to help people solve their problems and fix them right up, as we say. The same people, once they come here we see them over and over again," Whitmore said.
Bagley said he enjoys the relaxed work environment and interaction with customers, many of whom have stayed with Aubuchon through the move.
"We used to be down at the other location, and they followed us up, most of them. They're very pleasant, they're very loyal," Bagley said.
Bagley said he was a patrolman for 32 years with the South Portland Police Department. Then, he went to work in the Cumberland County Courthouse, but layoffs ended his job there. He has been with Aubuchon ever since leaving there. Compared with handing out citations and making arrests, Bagley said Aubuchon has been a refreshing change of pace.
"It's a lot more fun," he said.
During Friday's event, Cheryl Leeman, who's a Portland city councilor and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe's representative, read a letter congratulating Aubuchon and celebrating the store's continued presence in Portland.
Founded by William E. Aubuchon in 1908, Aubuchon Hardware is the oldest family owned and managed chain of hardware stores in America, according to the company's website. The company operates more than 125 neighborhood hardware stores throughout New England and Upstate New York in addition to HardwareStore.com.
For information on the newly opened Stevens Avenue store, call 871-0383.
