Backwoods Snowboards & Skateboards owner Jeremy Petrocelli, left, and board tuner Regan Fotter will have nearly twice as much room to work come fall when the shop’s expansion is complete. “To be able to better serve what we are currently doing is our goal,” Petrocelli said. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
This week the Buzz is all about growth in Lewiston-Auburn: More snowboards, more flowers, more body shop, even more . . . antenna?
Indeed, even more antenna.
Backwoods Snowboards & Skateboards shop in Auburn is two months into an expansion that will more than double its space at Minot Avenue and Garfield Road.
“It’s going to be a combination of mostly more retail, but also a good amount of storage for us as well, along with parking,” owner Jeremy Petrocelli said Monday.
He and his wife purchased the lot next door with a single-family home and garage last year. It started to come down in June, and ground broke on the addition later that month. Petrocelli hopes to have the project wrapped in mid-September, ideally without having to close the shop for even an extra day.
The 14-year-old business has continued to grow each year, he said.
“We’re just expanding on what we’re currently doing for product as well as having better space to better showcase stuff as well,” Petrocelli said.
That means more skateboards, more snowboards, more boots, bindings and goggles.
“We’ve stayed so focused on our niche that there’s always snowboards in the store and there’s always skateboards in the store,” he said. “We sell snowboard stuff weekly through the summer; last week we got a ton of new snowboards in for this coming winter.”
New Small venture
Mike Small stands at his business, Roak the Florist in Lewiston, in 2018. Small sold the business in March and has opened a new, smaller greenhouse in Auburn. Sun Journal file photo
Mike Small didn’t get far from flowers.
After 40 years at Roak the Florist, first under his dad as a teenager and then as owner with his wife, Small sold the business in March.
“During the sale, the new owners didn’t want any of the special contracts that I had or existing contracts,” Small said.
(A contract might have been one of the cities needing 150 trays of petunias, for instance, he said.)
So wanting to fill that need, he’s opened Small’s Greenhouse on 726 Summer St. in Auburn specializing in contracts and seasonal growing.
“It’s a one-man operation,” Small said. “I’m doing the spring stuff, I’m doing the fall mums, I’m doing the poinsettias, I’m doing the wreaths (at Christmas).”
He’s open weekdays 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and weekends during the holidays.
Planning Board action
This month, the board in Lewiston approved a new 180-foot 9-1-1 antenna and the board in Auburn approved a 2,713-square-foot addition to Coleman’s Collision, according to the respective city staffs.
The new antenna, a $190,000 project, will replace a 100-foot antenna tower at 420 River Road for the L-A 9-1-1 Communications System.
“The additional 80-foot reach will broaden our radio transmission receive capabilities for the South Lewiston/South Auburn area,” said Director Paul LeClair. “It’s also in preparation for the new radio system both cities recently approved as part of the capital budget for FY20.”
The expansion at Coleman’s, a $300,000 project, at 1524 Minot Ave., will remove three small sheds, improve the roof and “provide contiguous improved working space,” according to the application from the auto shop.
Attending a bunch of weddings this summer?
For your sake, I hope they’re in Maine. Or Montana. Or Vermont.
Definitely not Utah.
TheBlackTux.com has worked out the 2019 Amazon wedding registry math of every state in the country, figuring out both the average total registry ask (all of the items in a couple’s registry tallied together) and the average item price.
Maine had the seventh-lowest-priced registry in U.S. (a total of $175.70) and ranked third-lowest for the average registry item price ($19.05.)
Can you even buy a salad spinner or monogrammed towels for that amount?
“The reason for Maine’s low overall registry cost is the count of items (9.2 on average) and low average item cost,” said a spokeswoman. “They aren’t asking for pricey items, and aren’t adding many items. The state with the most items on average is Utah (55.9) and the one with the least is North Dakota (5.8).”
A few other fun findings:
• Utah had the high overall average registry total ($1,872.25), Montana the lowest ($117.72).
• Montana also had the lowest individual item average ($16.58) and Virginia the highest ($52.55).
• Stainless steel mixing bowls are the most popular registry item.
• June weddings had the most expensive registry total ($823), March weddings the lowest ($360).
The priciest registry that TheBlackTux.com found is in Whitakers, North Carolina, for almost $40,000.
Quick hits about business comings, goings and happenings. Have a Buzzable tip? Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 207-689-2844 or kskelton@sunjournal.com.
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