Cadillac closes Portland stores

BAR HARBOR – The owner of a group of sporting goods stores said Wednesday that his business is doing well and likely will continue to grow despite his decision this week to close three of his stores on Congress Street in downtown Portland.

Matthew Curtis, owner of Cadillac Mountain Sports and its various brand name stores, said the decision will have no effect on his five other stores, all of which are in Hancock County. He said he expects to concentrate on his existing stores and perhaps expand further at his remaining locations.

“It really doesn’t mean anything,” he said Wednesday in his office over his main store in downtown Bar Harbor. “The rest of the company is pretty strong.”

The reason the stores in southern Maine are closing is because of an ordinance adopted by the Portland City Council, according to Curtis. He has said it was a “slap in the face” for the council to decide last November not to let any more franchise or chain stores expand into Portland’s Old Port and Congress Street districts.

“With retail we really need a critical mass” to generate sufficient foot traffic and business, Curtis said. “[Portland has] a weaker downtown than we thought and this will only make it weaker.”

Closing in Portland are Cadillac Mountain Sports, Cadillac’s Patagonia and Cadillac’s The North Face stores. The reason his business has three stores on Congress Street is to take advantage of the proximity of the L.L Bean and Olympia Sports stores nearby and to contribute to the neighborhood’s retail critical mass, he said.

The recent closure of the Portland Public Market also has contributed to a decline in pedestrian retail customers in the city’s downtown, Curtis said.

Curtis acknowledged that the three Portland stores haven’t been doing that well – they only contributed 10 percent of his company’s revenue – but he said the city’s formula business cap is what made him decide to throw in the towel. The mild winter, with only scant traces of ice and snow, hasn’t been a help but such weather cycles are normal and expected, he said.

Portland City Councilor James Cloutier said he continues to support the ordinance and opposes a proposed sunset provision that would have the ban lapse after June 30. He said he finds it “hard to swallow” that the Cadillac stores are closing because of the ordinance.

“[It] isn’t something that throws the basic wisdom [of the ordinance] in doubt,” Cloutier said.

In a release, Curtis indicated his business is a past recipient of the Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility’s Eagle Feather Award and has a policy of only opening stores that are within a half-mile of a municipality’s downtown center. Cadillac Mountain Sports also has received the Revitalization Award from the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce for the renovation there of its 13,000 square foot flagship store, which at one time was a car dealership and garage.

Curtis said that with the recent expansion of the Ellsworth store, it is now the state’s largest retailer of skateboards, accessories and related apparel.

In addition to Ellsworth, there are four Cadillac Mountain Sports stores open year-round on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor, including three specialty stores that sell Nike, Patagonia and The North Face products.

There used to be a Cadillac Mountain Sports in downtown Bangor, but it was a franchise store whose owner, Brad Ryder, decided to make it his own business in 2003 and changed the name to Epic Sports.

The eight existing Cadillac Mountain Sports stores which combined have between 50 and 60 employees in the winter and more than 100 during the peak summer tourist season, according to Curtis. The three Portland stores, which have nine employees, are expected to close by the end of March.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.