Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Gardiner bagel shop closes

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

GARDINER -- Bagel Mainea's Water Street location here will shut down at the close of business today, one of the shop's co-owners said Friday.

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The Bagel Mainea shop on Water Street in downtown Gardiner closed Friday.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan

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It's not due to a lack of business, says Marianne Butak.

Instead, the cost of upgrading to comply with fire-safety regulations was too steep, she said.

"It's absolutely prohibitive," Butak said.

A fire inspector was called into Bagel Mainea's Gardiner location recently after receiving a complaint that the cooking conditions on the premises weren't fire-safe.

"We haven't had any issues, but he said that by the letter of the law, we were not able to go on cooking there," Butak said.

Butak and her husband, Kevin, explored a number of options to keep the location up and running short of an expensive upgrade.

"We could do microwaveable eggs, for example, but that's not who we are," Butak said.

The bagel and sandwich shop's Gardiner location, which has been open since 2005, employs the equivalent of 1 1/2 positions, Butak said. The business' location on Western Avenue in Augusta will absorb one of those positions.

Since word of the Gardiner location's closure started leaking out to customers, Butak said she's received a flood of supportive phone calls.

"It's just amazing how much of a response we've gotten," she said. "It just blows us away."

Butak said she and her husband haven't ruled out seeking another Gardiner location.

"We're residents of Gardiner and we support the town," she said, "so we will always keep that option open."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com