Island Grocers Delivered Food - and Kindness - Right to Your Door

Whitton’s. Richardson’s. Webber’s Store.  Brackett’s. Jensen’s Grocery. Abe’s. The A&P. The Red & White Market. H. W. Files. Feeney’s. Hannigan’s Island Market.

Advertising postcard for Harry W. Files’ grocery store, January 1935

Easy access to food is vital to small communities, and especially so on unbridged islands. Locally owned grocery stores serve multiple functions. It’s not an exaggeration to say they provide the sustenance on which life depends, as well as employment opportunities, and a place where folks can meet face to face. It can take hours to go to town and back to stock up on essentials, and life on Peaks would be much more difficult - and for many people, nearly impossible - without our down front grocery store. Unlike many rural places, Peaks Island has been fortunate to have a near unbroken chain of grocery stores over the years. This has contributed to Peaks’ longevity and stable year-round population.

Feeney’s Market on Seashore Avenue with John Feeney Jr., John Feeney Sr., and Reta Morrill, Winter 1978.

It's amazing how many choices islanders had before World War II. There were multiple grocery stores operating at the same time in various neighborhoods of Peaks, and most islanders were in easy walking distance from one. The Lewiston Sun Journal covered a lot of Peaks Island news, and on June 23, 1888, reported on the tremendous growth on the island at the time, saying “Fourteen years ago there was but one store on the Island, now there are five grocery stores alone.” The authors of A Glimpse of Old Peaks Island Through Rose Colored Glasses relate that there were seven grocers operating on the island during the 1930s and 1940s, five of which kept their stores open year-round.

Richardson’s Store on Island Avenue, circa 1930. Kids remember buying candy here after school.

One of these was the Brown family store near Forest City Landing (where the Island Lobster Company is located). It featured a delivery truck painted “Here Comes Jimmy” on the front, and “There Goes Jimmy” on the back. The enterprising Jimmy, the owner’s son, filled the truck with fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs which he would sell right from the truck bed. Many grocers delivered food right to your door. This was in addition to several trucks supplying baked goods, like Cushman’s Bakery, and a milk delivery service.

Charles and Harriet Blackman owned and operated Blackman Farm and supplied produce to island residents and businesses.

Aside from “brick and mortar” stores, market gardens were popular on Peaks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A “market garden” provided a wide array of marketable crops and products to sell to residents and businesses, including apples, oats, corn, potatoes, beans, honey, butter, and cut flowers. Charles and Harriet Blackman operated one such farm in the first quarter of the 20th century, which stretched from Tolman Heights down to the back shore.

Advertisement for A.W. Jensen, Peaks Island grocer, 1927.

Anecdotally, islanders remember Peaks Island grocers as kind, community-minded individuals with charitable approaches to business. Harry Files was “the kindest man,” according to one who remembers him. John Feeney of Feeney’s Market, “was generous to all, no matter if they could afford groceries or not – he made sure Peaks Islanders never went hungry.”

 Without a dependable grocery store, Peaks Island would be a much different place.

The Harborvue Shop was open everyday in the summer and sold a little bit of everything.