Eastport's Weekly Grocery Run Now Starts With a Phone Call

"For many of our friends and neighbors, it is an important and familiar part of daily life." Merilyn Mills wrote that in late August when she announced that the R&M IGA on Washington Street would close. The store was set to close after September 3, 2026. That ended four generations of her family selling groceries in Eastport. It started with her great-grandfather Armando Conti's shop at 76 Water Street, and the store moved to its current building on Washington Street in 1990.

A month later, a quick stop for milk and dinner is no longer simple. Most of the food the island used to get from one store now has to be ordered, scheduled or picked up for someone else. Families in Eastport can still keep the pantry full. The difference is that it now takes planning.

Two closures in one summer

The grocery store was the second loss. In early August, Eastport's only pharmacy also closed, and the Bangor Daily News reported that residents now rely on the Walmart in Calais for prescriptions. The same story put the drive to Calais for reliable fresh produce at about 40 minutes. The Quoddy Tides puts the Calais stores about 30 miles away.

Because both closures point to Calais, a single trip there can now cover both. A household that has to pick up a prescription at 379 South Street can also shop for a week of groceries at the same Walmart or at Tradewinds Shop 'n Save a few doors down. Once that trip is on the calendar, the closer stops in Eastport and Perry fill in the gaps between runs.

What is still on the island

Some food is still available on Moose Island, but none of these places replaces a full grocery store.

Family Dollar, 63 County Road. It's open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and its listing includes refrigerated items and staples like milk, eggs and bread. It accepts SNAP, and the Quoddy Tides describes its food stock as limited. City council President William "Billy" Boone told the paper that Eastport is "fortunate that the Family Dollar offers quite a lot of product now."

Wild Country Seafood, behind the Maritime Museum on Bay Shore Avenue. The business sells its own catch, including crab, oysters, rockfish and perch. From October 1 through May 1 it lists hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Those are weekend hours, so dinner from Wild Country takes some planning, just like the rest of the shopping.

Picnic Cafe & Bakery. It says it's open year-round and serves pastries, sandwiches, coffee and seasonal food. It won't stock a pantry, but you can get bread and lunch here without leaving town.

Perry, the halfway stop

The nearest place to buy groceries off the island is Perry Farmers' Union at 966 US Route 1. Its listed hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It accepts SNAP. The Bangor Daily News described its fresh produce as limited and said that neither it nor Family Dollar works as a full grocery store. Before you make a special trip to Perry, call ahead and confirm the hours. They come from a listing, not from the store.

The Calais trip, and how to skip parts of it

All three full grocery stores in the area are in Calais. Two of them let you place an order before you get in the car, and Walmart will deliver to parts of Eastport.

Tradewinds sells produce, deli and bakery items, meat and seafood. The Calais IGA website lists produce, meat, deli, bakery, dairy, eggs, frozen foods and dry groceries. The IGA will take a phone order if you pay in advance with a credit, debit, gift or EBT account, and you pick it up at the Calais store. If you call your order in before you leave, the stop in Calais is just a pickup.

Walmart's delivery reaches farther than most people expect. Under the Calais store's membership program, it delivers to some parts of Eastport. If your address is outside the approved delivery area, you can arrange ahead of time to pick up your order at Eastport Municipal Airport or at Quoddy Farms. For some households, a full week of groceries can be ordered without driving all the way to Calais.

If you want to plan around one Calais run a week, this order works:

1. Call your order in to the Calais IGA, or schedule a Walmart order for pickup or delivery.
2. Line up prescription refills so the pharmacy pickup at Walmart happens on the same trip.
3. Use Family Dollar, Perry Farmers' Union and the weekend hours at Wild Country Seafood to fill in between runs.

Neighbors are filling the rest

Some people in town don't drive, and ordering ahead doesn't help them much. A group called Neighbors to Neighbors formed after the closure. It runs a Facebook page by the same name and has made a poster listing every option above, plus the free food resources around town. Councillor Karen Raye told the Quoddy Tides: "Check on your neighbors. We all know who lives in our neighborhood and probably know who needs help. Reach out."

These resources appear on the group's list and in the paper's reporting:

• Eastport Senior and Community Center, 1 Staniels Road. It hosts a free vegetable giveaway at 10:30 a.m. on the first Monday of each month, so the next one is November 2. Center president Dale Devonshire said anyone can come and can bring an extra bag to pick up vegetables for a neighbor.
• Eastport Labor of Love Food Pantry, 137 County Road. It's open Fridays from 2 to 5:30 p.m. for people with demonstrated need. You can request an emergency box by leaving a message on the pantry's answering machine.
• Shead High School. It plans a food pantry for students and their families, funded by a $15,000 grant from the John T. Gorman Foundation. The pantry will include take-home meals and holiday food boxes.
• Healthy Acadia. It serves Hancock and Washington counties and connects people with food resources through the "Need Help" button on its website.
• The Community Caring Collaborative. It works with 45 agencies, and its Connection Initiative takes calls and messages from anyone looking for help.

Picking up groceries for a neighbor is easier now than it used to be. The trip to Calais happens anyway, and the IGA phone order and the Walmart airport pickup let one driver bring back food for two households.

Where the store's future stood in September

Whether this setup lasts depends on whether anyone reopens the building on Washington Street. Reporting through mid-September showed several possibilities and no decision.

The Passamaquoddy Tribe looked at buying it. Adam Newell, who serves on the Pleasant Point council, proposed putting the question to a community vote. On September 8, Sipayik voters decided 237 to 152 against having the chief and council explore a purchase. Earlier that month, Jeremy Edwards, president of Edwards Brother Supermarkets, said his company had talked with Mills but hadn't committed to buying the location. At its September 3 meeting, the Eastport Port Authority board voted unanimously that it had no part to play in acquiring the store for now. It said it might reconsider if the store stays closed for a long time.

City Manager Brian Schuth said the city is "keeping a close eye on any developments" and hopes private parties can work out a solution. The city posted a Grocery Planning notice on its website on September 9. The 21 employees who lost their jobs have been getting help from the Maine Department of Labor, and some have already found new work. We found no public reporting after mid-September that changes any of this. For updates, check The Quoddy Tides and the City of Eastport website.

Until the store reopens or a new one opens, a typical week in Eastport looks like this: an order called in to Calais, a pickup at the airport or Quoddy Farms, a weekend stop at Bay Shore Avenue for seafood, and an extra bag at the senior center on the first Monday of the month.

Robert McKenney grew up in Ellsworth and has worked in Washington County real estate since 1987. Rob knows how much a town's daily errands matter to anyone who owns a home there or is thinking about one. If you have questions about a family home in Eastport or on Moose Island, Let's Connect.