AUBURN — One year ago this month, a pickup truck careened into the side of Orphan Annie’s Antiques on High Street, causing severe damage to the building and the business. It’s unclear if the driver was ever charged in the accident.

As The Buzz reported last year, owner Dan Poulin said the impact broke a water line, split a large wooden support beam in two and shook the whole building. There is further structural damage in the upstairs apartment which is still waiting to be repaired. But at this point, the store is mostly back together and Poulin has been able to reopen the half of his store that was closed off for the entire time.

The costs are still being tallied and are likely to go higher than the original $450,000 in repairs to the store and building, and lost merchandise.

Orphan Annie’s Antiques owner Dan Poulin shows the damage to his store Dec. 15, 2023. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file

A WALK BACK IN TIME

Walk back into the right-hand side of the store at 96 Court St., and it’s like walking back into multiple eras of history. Virtually every inch of space is filled with an antique collector’s dream — from oriental rugs, crystal, paintings, jewelry, vintage clothing to lamps and everything in between.

“Good,” was Poulin’s response when asked how he feels 12 months after the crash, “I’m happy.”

Dan Poulin relaxes Tuesday afternoon while waiting for customers in the renovated section of his store at Orphan Annie’s Antiques on Court Street in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Poulin has been collecting for 50 years come this November. The Lewiston native went through some tough times after graduating from Lewiston High School in 1965 and managed to get a part-time job at Goodwill, which opened a retail store in Lewiston in the 1960s.

“So, because of that, I was able to get a little apartment… it was $7 a week, I had to pay the heat,” he said Tuesday as he sat in the newly rebuilt half of the store. “Because I had that part-time job at Goodwill, I was able to buy things and afford an apartment.”

Picking up things he liked for cheap was the beginning of a very long and profitable career. Poulin parlayed each purchase into something else and was soon on the flea market circuit. He struck up a relationship with Laura and Felix Raspiler, who owned Laura’s Hat Shop. They also sold antiques and asked Poulin if he wanted to share a table at the Freeport flea market.

That’s also how he met longtime employee Larry Duprey, who lost his battle with cancer Aug. 21. Duprey designed the front holiday windows over his nearly 30 years at Orphan Annie’s.

Carroll Poulin Sr., seen in this 2010 photo, was 94 at the time, playing his baritone saxophone at his home in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

Poulin’s father, Carroll Poulin Sr., was a musician and teacher and owned Carroll’s Music Center on Lincoln Street. He likely passed on the collecting bug to his son Dan because the elder Poulin collected musical instruments and displayed them in what he referred to as “the museum” in a 2010 Sun Journal story. Carroll Poulin Sr. lived until he was 104.

Dan Poulin started out renting one half of the current Orphan Annie’s store, with Gee & Bee Sporting Goods occupying the other half. When they moved out, Poulin rented the entire space and ended up buying the building, where he also lives.

Poulin spent a lot of time at the Brimfield Antique Flea Market, just outside of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, which bills itself as the antique and collectibles capital of the country — and at 7 miles long, is certainly among the largest. But it only happens three times a year in May, July, and September, with thousands of dealers at each event. Poulin made a lot of connections there and his customer base is not just limited to the Lewiston and Auburn area.

Clothes and antiques fill Orphan Annie’s Antiques on Court Street in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Among Orphan Annie’s customers are the wealthy in Florida, one of the backup singers to the B-52’s, people connected to the Woolworth family — which owned a 2,000-acre estate in Monmouth and Winthrop — and many others. Customers contact him, and his collection also spans three floors inside the Auburn Novelty Building at 110 Turner St. and includes furniture and larger items that can’t be displayed inside the store. The warehouse is open only on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The repairs to Orphan Annie’s come just in time, with the busiest retail season of the year almost upon us — the holiday season. Poulin says it’s the biggest time of the year for him and jewelry sales are a big part of that.

As for how the store got its name? The rock band Queen played at the Lewiston Armory in Feb. 19, 1975, and tickets were $5. Dan Poulin and a group of friends went to that concert, but not before sitting around brainstorming a name for Poulin’s soon-to-be antique store.

When someone blurted out Little Orphan Annie, Poulin said it clicked in his mind. The comic strip debuted in 1924 and struck a chord with the antiquarian, who has a penchant for the styles and artisan work of the 1920s and ’30s.

The Buzz offers quick hits about trending area business happenings. Have a Buzzable tip? Contact business writer Christopher Wheelock at 689-2817 or cwheelock@sunjournal.com