61. Mad Horse Theatre Company
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 730-2389
Description: Mad Horse is a professional theater ensemble that has made a local name for itself for producing hard-hitting, often gritty depictions of the struggles of the human spirit. According to the group’s Web site, Mad Horse performances focus on “areas of social concern, personal transformation, and the building of lasting community relationships.” To put it simply, drama Mad Horse–style packs a punch. Mad Horse usually performs at the Portland Performing Arts Center.
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
63. Maine Crafts Association
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 780-1807
Description: The Maine Crafts Association (MCA) has promoted the art of crafting since 1983 with contemporary craft exhibitions, educational programs, artistic and business mentoring, and a bimonthly newsletter. MCA also publishes a listing of all registered Maine crafters in its annual Maine Guide to Craft Artists and Culture. Annual membership costs $50. MCA also operates the Center for Maine Craft, a retail gallery in West Gardiner showcasing members’ work.
64. Maine Film And Video Association
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Description: The Maine Film and Video Association has more than 100 members who are involved in the state’s film industry on either a full- or part-time basis. The association serves as a networking hub for film professionals; it sponsors workshops, holds regular meetings, and informs members of industry events. The association’s Web site lists the names of members and information about each member’s specialty. Membership is $25 per year, $10 for students and seniors.
65. Maine Writers And Publishers Alliance
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 228-8263
Description: The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance is an association connecting writers, readers, and publishers in the state.
66. Portland Media Artists
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Description: Organized by local photographer Franklin McMahon, this is an informal group composed of area artists, including writers, filmmakers, photographers, and actors. The purpose of the group is to promote collaboration among members. For more information, visit their Web site.
67. Amaryllis Clothing Co.
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 772-4439
Address: 41 Exchange St.
Description: Maine designers Jill McGowan, Kendra Haskell, and Cindy Hanley contribute their creative works to this, Portland’s best women’s clothing store. Inspired and often whimsical contemporary fashions, formal wear, jewelry, and accessories are offered for sale.
68. Books Etc.
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 774-0626
Address: 38 Exchange St.
Description: Arguably downtown Portland’s best store for new books, Books Etc. has been a popular destination on Exchange Street, thanks to a good selection of contemporary fiction, Maine books, and pop culture titles. They now have a store in Falmouth, too.
69. Browne Trading Company
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 775-3118 or (800) 944-78
Address: 262 Commercial St. #3
Description: The Browne family has been in the seafood biz for generations, specializing in caviar, and fancy chefs all across the country currently turn to Browne’s for fresh seafood. And you can, too. The company has its retail store just steps from the docks the fish come in on, and you can find everything from Casco cod and monkfish to Jonah crabs and scallops. (Lobster, too, of course.) And that’s just the local stuff. Browne also offers sole from France, tai snapper from New Zealand, and arctic char from Iceland. Then there are the innumerable caviars the place stakes its reputation on. . . . Anyone with a jones for seafood will want to make the pilgrimage.
70. Bull Moose Music
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 780-6424
Address: 151 Middle St.
Description: Maine’s native record-store chain, Bull Moose was born in the early 1990s by a Bowdoin student in Brunswick, but this is the best-stocked of the company’s nine stores. Not as good as it once was, Bull Moose remains the place to turn in downtown Portland for CDs by underground and independent artists. You can find Top 40 stuff, too, and the prices are guaranteed to beat your mega-chain stores. The pierced and tattooed employees will order whatever they don’t have on hand.
71. Carlson-Turner Books
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 773-4200
Address: 241 Congress St.
Description: At the Munjoy Hill end of the Forest City’s old retail corridor, Carlson-Turner has arguably the biggest selection of used books in town—more than 40,000 titles—with specialties in antiquarian, Maine, Civil War, and “unusual and eccentric” books. Great fun to peruse.
72. Casco Bay Wool Works
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 879-9665
Address: 10 Moulton St.
Description: An Old Port staple for more than a decade, Casco Bay Wool Works has become known for its fine wool capes and shawls, but it also turns out fishermen’s sweaters of Shetland wool, refined women’s sweaters, blankets and throws, all of which make perfect sense for Maine winters—or even a late summer boat ride.
73. Cunningham Books
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 775-2246
Address: 188 State St.
Description: Cunningham’s is a favorite in the city’s Longfellow Square area, with some 50,000 titles to explore on its shelves, all thoughtfully organized by shopkeeper Nancy Grayson.
74. Decorum
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 775-3346
Address: 231 Commercial St.
Description: The Forest City’s best bets for architectural salvage are two shops on opposite ends of the peninsula—Decorum and Portland Architectural Salvage. You’ll have a hard time maintaining a sense of decorum if you visit Decorum, on Commercial Street, so excited will you be. It’s a great place to look for bathroom fixtures, lighting, and details like knobs, switches, and drawer pulls. It specializes in specialty hardware, and the selection is amazing. Very inventive, fun, and inspiring stuff.
75. Portland Architectural Salvage
City: Portland, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 780-0634
Address: 131 Preble St.
Description: Newly located on Preble Street, Portland Architectural Salvage is your best bet for larger pieces, old built-ins, doors, windows, posts, and cabinets—more than 12,000 square feet of the stuff on four floors. They’ll even track items down for you, with their personal shopper service. Both this and Decorum are enticing places for the old-home owner.