Fresh name, new location mark Miller’s reopening

BREWER – Miller’s Workshop, a scaled-down version of Miller’s Department Store, held a grand reopening this past weekend at its new location at 15 Acme Road.

The new store offers clothing and apparel for working men and women.

The operators of Miller’s Department Store decided several years ago to focus more on providing clothing and other items for working people at their Brewer location and, in doing so, decided to close their large South Main Street store.

The embroidery room at the W.S. Emerson Co.’s headquarters on Acme Road was renovated to handle a retail shop. The company owns Miller’s Workshop and four other Miller’s Department Stores in Maine and New Hampshire.

“We sat down and took a strategic look three or four years ago and changed operations,” store operator Bob Pushard said Saturday. “What we decided is that we were most relevant to working folk.”

The new, renamed store, which is across from the Brewer pool, features outdoor work clothing, including Carhartt, for men and women and clothing for people who work in the medical field.

The store also has a good-sized selection of work boots and comfortable working shoes.

“We have the largest selection of Carhartt in eastern Maine,” Pushard said. “We strive to offer the best value in Carhartt and other apparel. Are we always the lowest? No, but most of the time we are.”

The store carries several kinds of work boots, including Emerson’s of Maine, which are American-made boots especially for WS Emerson.

The shop also has a large selection of work gloves, including its own line. Miller’s also has begun selling its Carhartt items online at www.millersworkshop.com.

Eventually every item in the store will be available through the Web site, Pushard said.