BREWER – For some, Sunday could hardly have been any better: the Super Bowl and the grand opening of a new home improvement store.

The new Lowe’s opened Sunday morning at 15 Arista Drive off outer Wilson Street across from Dirigo Drive.

Store Manager Robert Ahearn said the store’s first day of business was “unbelievably busy. I can tell you we had customers waiting when I arrived.”

Rather than make them wait until the scheduled 8 a.m. opening, Ahearn said he decided to open the doors an hour early.

The store stayed busy from that point on with thousands of customers having visited as of midafternoon Sunday. Ahearn said the store’s 900-space parking lot remained full throughout the day, but he predicted business could slow down by the evening once the Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the undefeated New England Patriots got under way.

The 117,000-square-foot store with an adjacent 31,000-square-foot garden center is the first Lowe’s to open in Greater Bangor.

The next nearest Lowe’s, about 25 miles southeast of Brewer in Ellsworth, opened Jan. 1.

“It’s been wonderful,” Ahearn said. “We’re awful excited to be here.

“The public loves us and we’re loving them. Honestly, not a single complaint today. The most common thing I’ve heard is, ‘We’re so glad you’re finally here.'”

Ahearn expected today to be busy as well with a sales event aimed at contractors and other commercial customers planned for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The new home improvement retail store, which cost approximately $18.5 million to build, employs about 150 people.

Employees got a sneak peak of the store during a “Family Night” event on Saturday, Ahearn said. During the event, catered by Ruby Tuesday’s, employees and their family members had a chance to check out the store, which has more than 40,000 items on its shelves, and do some shopping.

The Brewer store is one of 10 Lowe’s stores in Maine.

Besides Ellsworth, there are stores in Auburn, Augusta, Biddeford, Brunswick, Portland, Presque Isle, Scarborough and Windham with two planned for Bangor and Belfast.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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