York Corner
At York Lobster and Seafood - formerly Finestkind, out on Route 1 near Old Post Road - we found three women standing by the counter when we popped in there early on Sunday afternoon.
When we inquired, we learned that all three (plus another who was waiting in the car) were from Albany, N.Y., that they'd been in this region, staying at The Norseman in Ogunquit, for a long weekend that began on Thursday night, and that their chief activity while here had been sale-shopping - in Kittery, Ogunquit, Freeport and Bath.
The trip, they volunteered happily, had become a yearly ritual - repeated, thus far, four times, and welcome not only because of the bargains to be found in advance of Christmas, but because, as one of them put it, "By this time of year, you're ready for a mini-vacation."
Why Maine and why here?
"Been coming to Maine with family for years," was one answer, coupled with "We love York! We love southern Maine, all of it. We find everybody helpful and nice."
And, "It's beautiful, relaxing, calming."
They were, we learned upon asking, Jean Holbine, a contract manager for a medical center; her sister, Harriet Whalen, a high-school nurse; another sister, Barbara Palucci, (the one in the car) an executive assistant for a company called MapInfo, and her daughter, Donna Eames, a contract analyst for MapInfo.
When we asked what MapInfo did, Donna called it "a solutions provider for different businesses." If, for example, she said, Wal-Mart was looking to site a new store, MapInfo Corporation could provide data revealing the best spot for it.
When we asked if the four women had husbands and children, and how many of each, they all laughed and quickly said "Yes," and "four, four, two and two," meaning that Barbara and Harriet each had four children, while Donna and Jean had two - and each had one husband.
Among the items Jean had bought were some L.L. Bean pants and vests for her two sons, Sean, 27, and Craig, 28, both in their second year of working in Montana for the Montana Conservation Corps.
When we met the women they were picking up bundles of live lobsters that were, they said, "going home to the husbands."
We had lots more questions - what, for example, does the Montana Conservation Corps do? - but the women had to get back on the road, so we turned, back, instead, to the store.
New owner Thomas Robinson of York wasn't in, but manager Joshua Philbrick, who was, took time to sit down with us and tell us a bit about changes that Robinson had brought to the store, and about how business had been.
The changes included much sprucing up inside and out, the introduction of many more retail goods, including prepared foods and foods to invite what Josh called one-stop shopping (like corn-on-the-cob and red potatoes to go with lobsters and clams for a clam bake), and some expanded hours. Outside, we'd already noticed a new sign, up on new stone supports, crafted, Josh said (like the lettering on the shop's trucks, too) by McGarvie Signs of York, colorful lobster-buoy birdhouses hanging on display, and a profusion of fall potted plants all in flower - plus tablecloths still in place under the big outside eating pavilion.
Inside, we sat on cushioned chairs at new clear-glass circular tables, and it was clear that, in front of the long fish counter, items now for sale ranged from capers, anchovy pastes, duck sauce and foie gras, to fine wines, cheeses and crackers of all sorts - plus pots for cooking, stuffed moose for hugging and T-shirts ("York Lobster and Seafood") for advertising.
Behind the counter, the seafoods now range from mussels and littlenecks to monkfish, halibut, flounder, swordfish and haddock, among other offerings, and include stuffed clams and fish cakes and crab cakes in addition to other prepared foods like cucumber and onion salad, artichoke salad - and blueberry pie.
Josh told us that York Lobster and Seafood usually keeps between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds of lobster on hand at all times. It buys, he said, from what he called "numerous" York fishermen and wholesales to many area restaurants; it also wholesales live lobsters to an outfit that specializes in shipping them internationally. York Lobster itself will also ship live lobsters to any point in the U.S., Josh said, and does so, he added, especially at Christmas, when he estimated that it ships perhaps 2,000 in any given season.
New owner Robinson, Josh said, took over from former owner Mike Goslin in May, and, since then has had a season that Josh called "great." The shop, he said, appeared unaffected by either the spring floods or high gas prices. Open seven days a week, starting at 10 a.m., it's also profited by extending its evening hours to 7 p.m. to capture commuters on their way home from work.
Josh himself, he told us, learned lobstering from his father, Edward Philbrick, who, now retired, fished his whole life, and Josh himself was following in his father's footsteps until coming to work for Mike three years ago. When we asked him if he missed the fishing, he said, "I do, but it's so seasonal," and he looked about him as he said, "It's a lot nicer in here in January and February."
Josh credited Chef Adam White with contributing to the store's success, and, while we were there, we met a couple of other staff, Andrew Potter, a York High School senior who works behind the counter summers and on weekends during the school year, and Peter Zerbinopoulos, a YHS graduate of the class of 2000 who grew up fishing from his grandparents' boat, and who's been working at the store for six years - though, this year, he's also been working during the week at a friend's Somersworth, N.H., shop, detailing cars and installing car after-market accessories, where the atmosphere is appealing because it's "laid-back and casual."
We met two other customers that day, travelers stocking up on fish for a return trip inland. We'll tell you about them when we return here next week.
