NORWAY – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, cited Longley’s Hardware Store on Tuesday as a good example of a successful local business in a small downtown setting.

“He made it work,” said the three-term senator as she toured the downtown historic district Tuesday with area GOP candidates for the state Legislature.

Snowe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business, said revitalization of the downtown in Norway and across the state is possible and economic help is available.

Snowe spoke to John Longley and some of his employees and customers at the hardware store for about 20 minutes. She said Longley offers a service that the big stores do not and he’s hands-on. “It’s what you want,” she said.

“It’s a great store. That’s what we lose when the big stores come in,” said Snowe, who grew up in the Lewiston-Auburn area and watched the revitalization of the two cities. “It’s grass roots. They stick to the core beliefs and standards and they’ve done well.”

Snowe said it was important that Norway Savings Bank is still in the downtown and has expanded its facilities.

“We should take all the guys off Wall Street and bring them up here and remind them of basic values,” she said.

Snowe said that big businesses are not the answer to small-town revitalization; providing economic stimulus to promote small business growth is the key.

Snow said buildings such as the vacant Opera House, which is the heart of the downtown historic district, could be revitalized with the help of federal programs such as the Small Business Administration and Housing and Urban Developmentm, which have funds available to small business owners.