PRESQUE ISLE — When Courtney Wetzel, the owner of Pancsofar’s Bridal Boutique, first told family and friends last year that she was thinking of opening up a new store in Bangor, a number of people thought she was crazy.
“I had just had a baby in September,” she recalled Wednesday, about the reaction she got. “So between caring for him and just managing one business, Zane [her husband] and I were pretty busy.”
But Wetzel said that expanding had been in her business plan since she bought the bridal boutique in Presque Isle in November 2015, even before the economy took a dive. So in July 2015, she acquired Blush Bridal & Formal, located at 15 State St. in downtown Bangor, making her one of a number of Aroostook County business owners who have recently expanded their businesses or opened up new ones despite the belt tightening going on around them.
Others from Aroostook who have expanded or opened new locations include Rob Lawless and Kathryn Harnish, owners of Took A Leap Farm in Houlton, who recently became the new owners of The Vault restaurant in Houlton; Matthew and Karen Sutton, who opened a second Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe in Camden last year; Alison Wheeler, who expanded All Star Gymnastics in Mars Hill and opened gyms in Presque Isle and Houlton; and Chris and Cindy Johnson, who first opened The Cubby Thrift Store in Caribou in 2010, have since opened stores in Presque Isle, Madawaska and Houlton.
Wetzel said that in March 2015 when she was considering expansion, she said that business overall at Panscofar’s was “healthy” but it had “slumped” a bit.
“It was because of the weakening Canadian dollar,” Wetzel said, referring to the Loonie, which had been dropping and which by July 2015 fell to its lowest point against the U.S. dollar in six years. “We saw a downturn in business, and we talked about it and were like, ‘Do we hunker down and wait out the storm, or do we expand?’”
With a “carefully planned” business plan, they opted to open Blush in Bangor, getting in on the “growth and revitalization” going on in the city.
Wetzel said that to avoid getting in over their heads, they “had a very well thought out timeline.”
“We didn’t want to bring staff on too early,” she said. “We also sourced a lot of local talent, such as my uncle from Patten, who was a contractor and was very helpful in helping us find other great local talent. And we paid attention to where the money went. We didn’t feel our office space needed to be super high end, but we put a lot of money into our inventory, since that drives our business.”
The Johnsons expanded their thrift store operation to Houlton in November 2015. Their stores are dedicated to providing quality, gently used items at low prices. Every item is donated and is showcased on the sales floor, so customers are offered a wide variety of products.
When establishing the Caribou store, the Johnsons also founded The Cubby Fund, a nonprofit organization that offers financial support to children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
Chris Johnson said Thursday that any doubts about the economy before expansions were overshadowed by a belief in their customer base which has always been supportive. He said that the company’s wide variety of goods and interested patron base has always been the key to the couple’s success. At the same time, the majority of their goods are donated, saving them significant income.
Another key piece that helps them move inventory and keeps their shoppers coming back, he said, is a policy that states that new merchandise must remain on the showroom floor for five days before employees can purchase it.
“There is always something interesting that comes in and an employee might say, ‘Oh, I’d love to have that,’” he said. “But we have a policy stating that the customer gets first pick. If after five days that item is still on the showroom floor and has not been purchased, our employees are free to purchase it.”
Johnson said that in the end, he is happy with the results of the expansion.
“Our philosophy has always been that if we grow more, we can do more,” he said Thursday.
