Something’s brewing in Ellsworth Coffeehouse to open in historic downtown

ELLSWORTH – Listening to Leslie Harlow talk with energetic fervor about her new business venture, you have to wonder whether the Sullivan native really needs more coffee.

Harlow recently partnered with Myles Rogers, a Rockland businessman, to bring an upscale coffee cafe to Ellsworth’s historic downtown by late July.

“Leslie is the energy, this wouldn’t be possible without her,” Rogers said this week from inside the coffee shop’s future location, an old brick building on Main Street that for more than 70 years was home to the local Masonic Temple Association.

“The Masons were looking to sell and we were looking for a brick building,” explained Rogers, who bought the building and then recruited Harlow to help manage it. “When we saw it, we just fell in love with the space.”

The coffeehouse, which will be called The Maine Grind, is expected to feature all the bells and whistles of a national chain like Starbucks, including wireless Internet connection, Harlow said.

However, she hopes the shop will retain a local feel that fits Ellsworth’s close-knit downtown and perhaps fill a void left in the city when Larry’s Pastry closed its doors last month.

“I don’t think there are a lot of similarities between Larry’s and what we’re trying to do,” said Harlow, who also co-owns Sullivan Harbor Farm, a salmon smokehouse, with her husband. “There will never be another Larry’s, but I think this coffee shop reflects a changing dynamic, a younger dynamic.”

“We just want a place where people can come and feel at home,” added Rogers, a former plumber and current airplane hangar designer. After spending 35 years on Martha’s Vineyard, he moved to Maine and tried retirement but it didn’t take.

“I don’t think I’m designed to retire,” he said.

So instead he started looking for business opportunities, met Harlow and now he’s jumping into the coffee business.

In keeping with the local theme, he said The Maine Grind will feature Rock City coffee, which is roasted in nearby Rockland.

The coffee shop will occupy only the first floor of the four-story, 12,000-square foot Masonic Hall. The vast open space will have room for a long bar area along with several couches and chairs to meet and mingle.

“With all due respect to the Masons, this building has had the appearance that it’s not really in use,” Harlow said.

The Masons likely will stay on the second floor until they build a new home, Rogers said, at which time he will look at expanding the building to accommodate even more business ventures.

“We’re open to whatever comes,” he said, offering such possibilities as a restaurant, a massage parlor or other uses. “But we don’t want it to become an office building.”