Shoppers at Holden Mainway include area residents and tourists

HOLDEN — When Irving Oil decided to locate a Mainway on Route 1A between Brewer and East Holden in the early 1990s, the company chose an excellent site. A small store stood near Cedar Haven Mobile Home Park; it was situated a half mile from the Brewer-Holden town line and the easternmost ramps to Interstate 395. Irving Oil acquired the existing, then built a new facility on the site.

Today, the Holden Mainway attracts a busy clientele, including tourists and area residents. The store is one of the few places where a motorist can buy gas, fresh produce, and grocery staples between Ellsworth and Brewer.

Brian Murphy has managed the Holden Mainway since January 1991. A Brewer native who graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School and later earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation and leisure services at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Murphy believes the store occupies “a prime location.

“Obviously, we’re located on one of the busiest arteries in the state,” he explained. “The traffic counts are somewhere above 20,000 cars a day in summer, and it remains pretty high year-round.

“People know we’re here. Tourists who come to Maine every year know when they get off (Interstate) 395, they hit us. You can see our sign all the way from the exit ramp,” Murphy said.

An excellent location does not guarantee success for a convenience store. Although most people who routinely drove past the Holden Mainway probably recognized the Irving Oil colors, “we knew we had to prove we were the best place for them to stop,” Murphy said.

“We cater to our customers; that’s been our approach since when we opened. It’s the Irving philosophy: The customer comes first. We take a lot of pride in that; it’s a prime reason why so many people stop by,” he stated.

An affable individual who readily shares smiles and laughter with the many customers familiar to him, Murphy noted that “the store has done really well. We provide to our customers service that is quick, efficient, and friendly. It doesn’t matter that we are the only store for several miles along this road. Customers know they can go elsewhere if we do not meet their needs. Based on our acceptance, we have done so.”

The Holden Mainway sells gasoline, a high-demand product along a busy Route 1A. All the way from Whiting Hill in Brewer to Ellsworth, no other convenience store operates its fuel pumps 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — and motorists, whether area residents or tourists heading for Mount Desert Island or Down East Maine, appreciate finding an open gas pump no matter the time of day.

“If you drive through here early in the morning, and I mean in the wee hours after midnight, we’re the only ones open. You can roll in here, gas up, use our extra clean restrooms, grab a snack, and head out again in a matter of minutes,” Murphy said.

Speaking of those restrooms: “We have more compliments about our restrooms than probably anything else,” Murphy said.

Tourists accustomed to less-than-sparkling restrooms out of state “can’t believe it when they come in here to use our facilities,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “They say they haven’t experienced anything like it elsewhere. Makes me wonder why they haven’t. That says a lot for Irving, too.

“We check the restrooms every half hour. We clean them whenever we have to — and even when we don’t,” Murphy said. “Our restrooms are clean, the pay phone is inside, not outside, and we’re here to wait on our customers. That’s what we’re all about.”

Like other Mainways, the Holden store carries the standard snack foods, soda, and tobacco products that represent the traditional convenience-store best-sellers. Irving Oil, naturally, expands its merchandise to include food and grocery products unavailable in competitors’ stores.

Murphy listed the fresh produce, both fruits and vegetables, sold in his store. He cited the extensive dairy products, sandwiches, hot coffee, and steamed hot dogs popular “with people who are on the go. A lot of items you would find in a grocery store, you will find here. Customers are constantly surprised by what we carry.”

There has been a negligible turnover in the Holden Mainway staff since the store opened, according to Murphy. “In my opinion, the Holden Irving Mainway has one of the best staffs that any manager can hope for,” he said. “I’m only as good as my people, and we’re only as good as the service that we provide our customers.”