LEWISTON – For the time being, he’s calling it a warehouse, but at some point it could be considered a stable.

That’s because the new 24,000-square-foot warehouse that George Schott just put up at his Main Street Harley-Davidson store will eventually hold his growing collection of antique carousel horses – and one day even a working carousel.

“I’ve been collecting them in a small way since 1985,” said Schott as he surveyed the neat rows of carousel horses that anchor a corner of his store. “I’ve been doing it in a large way for the last two years.”

The brightly painted, prancing wooden horses blend right in with the shiny chrome and steel motorcycles that blanket the 40,000-square-foot store. Schott’s is the biggest Harley-Davidson dealer in Maine, with about 300 bikes in stock, plus accessories and clothes. The warehouse expands his space by about 60 percent. Schott built a 5,000-square-foot addition to his main showroom back in 2001.

Business has been good – so good he needed to build the new warehouse for additional storage.

“We just ran out of room,” he said.

The warehouse should be completed in a few weeks. Although the shell is up, it still needs utilities and signs. Schott expects he’ll begin filling it with inventory within about four weeks.

He’s not sure when the carousel horses will make the move. Ideally he’d like to erect the antique carousel he bought from Circus World in Florida inside the warehouse. The 1920 carousel, which operated at Coney Island at one point, is in pieces waiting until Schott completes his collection of horses before it can be assembled and operated. Schott already owns 39 horses; he needs another 15 to complete the carousel.

“I’ve always had an interest in them,” he says of the horses. When asked why, he just smiles.

“Why not?”

Several of the horses were made by Marcus Illion, one of the premier carousel horse carvers in the world. All of the horses have been restored, many with gilded manes and jeweled breastplates, bridles and saddles. Some even sport real horsehair tails.

“They come all over the U.S.” said Schott, ticking off places such as San Diego; Washington state; Roswell, N.M.; and Florida among them. Some of the creatures are “siblings” – horses that shared the same carousel but were separated at auction. Now they’re reunited at Schott’s.

The motorcycle dealer says the fanciful carousel horses have been a great addition to the showroom.

“The wives come over here,” he said gesturing to the display. “The husbands are looking at the bikes.”