Sow’s Ear gift shop marks 25 years

MACHIAS – Ginny Little, owner of The Sow’s Ear, is thrilled that her gift shop in Machias reached its 25th year last Friday, July 1.

But she celebrated the memories from a distance, because she is now living at Dirigo Pines, an assisted living facility in Orono.

Still, the employees back at the store carried on with 25th anniversary festivities, including hot dogs on the grill. Saturday was busy at the Water Street location, a two-room shop that brims with hundreds of little things that all deserve second looks.

Wearing the red, white and blue theme of the weekend, the workers exuded an appreciation for all the customers who stopped in to share the store’s special occasion.

The employees also expressed gratitude for having the chance to work alongside Little.

“Everyone should have an angel,” Arline Smith, the shop’s manager, said of Little. “She would always reach out and touch someone. So people haven’t minded going out on a limb for her, too.”

Little turns 70 later this month. Sixteen months ago, she had a stroke that left her unable to stay in her Bog Lake home or care for the shop.

While her out-of-state daughter made decisions from afar, the employees took turns looking after Little’s pets over several months and visiting her in the hospital in Bangor.

Now they take turns visiting Little at her new residence in Orono. She acknowledged to them last week that it has been a good 25 years, but it’s time now probably to focus on herself.

“We all love Ginny,” said Elaine Utley, one of the four employees. “She’s a very happy person to work with. If we told her that we didn’t take in much money on a day, she would say, ‘Oh, well, there’s still another day!'”

Utley also remembered that Little always brought in “goofy snack food.”

“She would say, ‘I thought we could all try this,'” Utley recalled. “It was all we could do to keep our weight down.”

Aside from Smith as manager, there are no titles for Utley, Carol Flores and Beth Dodge, the others who work in the shop in Little’s absence.

“Piglets,” Utley volunteered. “Arline is the chief piglet, and we are the other piglets.”

Customers consider the store unique because of its range of colorful gifts, from lines of collectibles to one-of-a-kind crafts to Maine Blackfly Breeders Association trinkets.

It also is unique for its name.

When Little and her late husband, Bill, bought the building in early 1980, they had to buy it and the two buildings next to it.

“It’s no silk purse,” Bill Little said at the time.

“No, it’s a sow’s ear,” she responded.

Through the years the shop has employed dozens. Those who kept the business running in Little’s recent absence are relative newcomers. Smith has worked there five years, and the others have joined the shop since.

They do just as Little always did herself – recognize customers by name and remember them from the last visit.

“We had a couple here just on Saturday who always stop in first thing, even before they reach their summer camp,” Smith said.

Even without Little behind the counter, tourists, summer people and locals alike enjoy the store for its mix of items.

There are books by Maine authors and mugs by Maine potters. There are baskets, figurines, greeting cards, specialty kitchen utensils, Christmas ornaments, carvings, soaps, candles, stuffed animals, children’s toys, quilts, wrapping paper, pills, throws and stationary.

It’s a shop more likely to be found in downtown Bangor than Down East. Its employees may miss their boss, but they haven’t missed a step.