16. Maine Potters Market
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 774-1633
Address: 376 Fore Street
Description: The Maine Potters Market has occupied its store in the Old Port for 25 years. Here, you can find unique and beautiful pottery handmade by any one of 15 member potters. All of the pottery is local, and products include mugs, bowls, clocks, and lamps.
17. Nomia Boutique
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 773-4774
Address: 24 Exchange Street Second Floor
Description: Nomia Boutique, the city’s first women-owned and -operated adult boutique, features sex toys, videos, lingerie, and sex workshops geared toward women and couples. Since opening its doors in February 2004, Nomia has quickly become one of the most popular sex stores in the area because of its knowledgeable staff and unthreatening environment. Nomia is on the second floor at 24 Exchange, and discretion is cherished here (employees keep all conversations with customers confidential). On Thursday Nomia hosts a women-only night from 5 to 8 p.m.
18. Porte4
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 347-7104
Address: 366 Fore Street
Description: Porte4 is an upscale jewelry boutique that specializes in estate, custom-designed, and special-order jewelry. At Porte4 you can find that one-of-a-kind ring or necklace for your special someone, but you may have to save up for a couple of months before you can afford it. Porte4 bills itself as a selective shop with the highest levels of customer service and satisfaction. To be sold here, all merchandise must score highly in four areas: quality of craftsmanship, uniqueness of design, rarity, and value. Porte4 also features unique home and personal accessories from the United States and Europe.
19. Shipwreck And Cargo
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 775-3057
Address: 207 Commercial Street
Description: Shipwreck and Cargo along the water on Commercial Street features two packed floors of nautical knickknacks, artwork with maritime themes, ship models, antiques and reproductions, and touristy trinkets like stuffed lobsters and moose. Be sure to check out the upstairs, where the nautical clothing and hats are kept—you might find that navy peacoat you’ve always wanted, with a pair of wool pants to match.
20. Treehouse Toys
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 775-6133
Address: 47 Exchange Street
Description: Treehouse Toys features toys from around the world, including games, puzzles, collectibles, trains, dolls, and tons of adorable stuffed animals. Treehouse Toys also carries a good selection of books for children at all levels of development. Almost all of the toys have display examples, so you can pick them up and try them out.
21. Caravan Beads & Fibers
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 761-2503, (800) 230-8941
Address: 915 Forest Avenue
Description: Caravan Beads started in 1991 on the back porch of co-owner Jean Kahn’s house. Over the years Kahn and her friend and business partner Carolyn Mitchell have expanded this bead store from a shoestring operation to a large warehouse store on Forest Street. Caravan is also a bead and yarn supplier on the Internet and helps establish other bead stores around the country. At the Portland location you can choose from thousands of beads and a wide selection of fabrics and yarns to make your craft item. Caravan offers free instruction on knitting and beading techniques. A knitting circle meets here on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. Caravan is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Tuesday to 8 p.m.
22. Browne Trading Company
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (800) 944-7848
Description: Seafood supplier to many of the country’s most talented chefs, Browne Trading Company operates its business on Commercial Street on Portland’s waterfront. In the small store here, you too have access to the sushi-grade fish Browne is known for, as well as a small, but diverse, selection of specialty foods like foie gras, truffles, and fresh caviar. If you want a taste of Browne’s offerings before you buy or ship your choice to anywhere in the country, stop in at midday on a weekday for Browne’s fish-based prepared lunch selections.
23. Fuller’S Gourmet Candy And Ice Cream Shoppe
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 253-8010
Address: 43 Wharf Street
Description: Fuller’s is so small that you might miss it, but don’t. Located near the block of Fore Street best known for its bars, Fuller’s candy and ice-cream shop keeps regular daylight hours during the week, unlike most of its neighbors. Inside this small shop the owner has dipped and churned nearly every kind of sweet she sells. There are truffles and chocolate bark aplenty, as well as traditional candy and about a dozen flavors of homemade ice cream. Be sure to try something with chocolate here, since there’s nothing sweeter than homemade chocolate. The ice cream with candy or chocolate, which is made with homemade sweets from the shop, is also outstanding.
24. Harbor Fish Market
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 772-6557
Address: 9 Custom House Wharf
Description: A local favorite, Harbor Fish Market supplies frozen and fresh fish caught in the waters of Casco Bay. The store sells all the old standards—crab, lobster, scallops, and all kinds of whitefish—as well as other kinds of seafood. Really, it’s best to swing down and check out the place yourself to see what’s available, as options change depending on the catch that day. Harbor Fish is located on a narrow side street off Commercial Street, in a fire engine–red wood-frame building. If you don’t like the smell of seafood, stay away from the unloading area for local fishermen—there’s seawater and fish juice aplenty.
25. Haven’S Candies
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 772-0761
Address: 448 Forest Avenue
Description: Haven’s Candies has been dipping chocolate strawberries, stretching saltwater taffy, and making all other manner of delectable confections in the Greater Portland area since 1915. This locally owned and operated candy manufacturer is best known for its chocolates, and you can get a sample or a year’s supply at the retail outlet store in Portland. If you have a special occasion coming up or simply a yearning for a one-of-a-kind chocolate bar, ask about their custom chocolate moldings, an art for which this candy mecca is well known.
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
28. Longfellow Books
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 772-4045
Address: 1 Monument Square
Description: Longfellow Books is stocked with plenty of quality reading, including classics, new nonfiction and fiction, and quirky children’s books. This bookstore is crafted for the lifelong reader, and as a nod to this philosophy, Longfellow will send you a store gift certificate every year on your birthday if you register at the counter. Longfellow also hosts regular literary and theatrical readings and acoustic music performances. Call or visit their Web site for upcoming events.
29. Rabelais
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 774-1044
Address: 86 Middle Street
Description: A treat for foodies hankering for how-to knowledge about food and cooking, Rabelais sells fine books about food, wine, farming, and gardening. Here you can find thousands of first-run and rare and out-of-print books on everything from food culture to molecular gastronomy to how to make cheese at home. The store’s owners, husband and wife Don Lindgren and Samantha Hoyt Lindgren, are themselves a wealth of knowledge on cuisine (Samantha is a trained pastry chef, and Don spent 25 years in the rare-book business), and the store hosts book signings and film nights about food.
30. Material Objects
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 774-1241
Address: 500 Congress Street
Description: Material Objects in Portland’s downtown carries a great selection of trendy used and new clothing. The majority of the garments come with a history, and you can find everything you need— including shoes, hats, jackets, and accessories—to pull off your favorite retro look. Material Objects has long been a mainstay of Portland’s consignment scene.