It’s Local Season At Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine
photo by Amanda Huebner Photography
Mainers Supporting Mainers
Lisa-Marie has always been a maker. Her daughter Marie recalls her mom parked in the school pickup line with her car trunk open, selling goods to other waiting parents. Weekends were spent hauling products to local craft fairs, setting up, and breaking down again and again.
While Lisa-Marie was building her own craft business, she was also building something just as important: a close-knit community of Maine artists who would become friends and suppliers for the shops she owns today. She went from vending at local craft shows to becoming a craft show director, joining both the Society of Southern Maine Craftsmen and United Maine Craftsmen. It was clear then, as it is now, that Lisa-Marie was a pillar of the Maine maker community. It was her husband who encouraged her to turn that hustle into a year-round business.
A True Family Business
Lisa-Marie opened the first Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine retail store in Bath in 2003. Four expansions later, she is celebrating 23 years. She opened her second location in Portland’s Old Port in 2010. From the very beginning, it has been a family-run business. Lisa-Marie’s daughter, Marie, joined the family business after graduating college in 2009 and now manages the Portland store.
While Lisa-Marie and Marie are the faces most customers recognize, father and husband Andy joined full-time in 2010 to manage the financial side of the business. In true small business style, this role came with other duties like answering random IT questions, snow removal, making morning coffee, and morale booster. Lisa-Marie and her family are quick to emphasize that the family business encompasses their remarkable team of employees, with whom they share both professional pursuits and personal celebrations and milestones in and out of the workplace.
A Thoughtfully Curated Experience
An artist herself, Lisa-Marie built a business designed to support her friends and fellow makers. Today, her stores are spaces where artists feel safe, promoted, and valued. Lisa-Marie offers a lower consignment rate than many galleries and pays makers to give them steady income throughout the year. This, paired with her strong reputation, makes artists eager to be featured in her stores.
At Lisa-Marie’s, all products must be made in Maine, and great care is taken not to overlap or compete with artists already represented. The goal is always the same: to curate a collection that feels interesting, local, and memorable for every person who walks through the door.
Locals Are What Make It Possible
While tourists flock to her stores in summer, it is local customers who make the business sustainable year-round, and they appreciate that the winter season gives them time to slow down and connect more deeply with customers. These conversations allow them to share valuable feedback with makers and continue to improve their customer experience.
Marie speaks fondly of the locals who only appear in the quieter months: the ones who can park right out front and stroll in without navigating cruise ship crowds. She and her mom are quick to note that when you shop at Lisa-Marie’s, you are supporting more than one local business. You’re supporting hundreds of individual makers too.
Local Season Favorites
When asked what she loves about Local Season, Marie answered like a true small business owner: having the time to deep clean and tackle the little projects that get pushed aside during the busy months. She also professed her love for the one-dollar oysters on Wednesdays at Blyth and Burrows across the street.
Her favorite local business to shout out this time of year is D. Cole Jewelers, another family-run business on Exchange Street. She laughs as she says that nearly all of her jewelry comes from either Lisa-Marie’s or D. Cole.
If there is a family that truly lives the values of supporting local businesses and keeping dollars in the Maine economy, it’s this one. Looking for something Made in Maine? Lisa-Marie’s has you covered.
