30 years of green
These three Maine shops have made sustainability their business for three decades
The Green Store is a general store in Belfast whose eclectic inventory features nontoxic products and sustainable packaging. COURTESY PHOTO.
By Amy Paradysz
WHEN LOIS AND DAN PORTA opened Lois’ Natural Marketplace on Route 1 in Scarborough in 1993, they were motivated by a desire to raise their three sons on organic, locally grown food—and to make it easier for other families to do the same.
“Back in those days, access was really limited,” Lois Porta says, reminiscing about when the only way to buy organic oats was in a 50-pound sack.
Fast forward to 2023, and Lois’ Natural Marketplace and two other sustainability oriented businesses—The Green Store in Belfast and Forget Me Nots in Falmouth—are celebrating three decades of making it easier for people to make more environmentally sustainable choices in their day-to-day shopping.
Lois and Dan Porta (seen here in the early years) have grown Lois’ Natural Marketplace to a destination for an average 500 customers a day interested in organic groceries. COURTESY PHOTO.
Lois’ Natural Marketplace • Scarborough, Maine
The Portas had been members of an organic vegetarian co-op in Portland called Good Day (which closed in the mid-1990s) and set up shop on Route 1 in Scarborough to avoid being in direct competition.
“We added a vegetarian deli partly as an educational mission to introduce vegetarian and vegan products and alternative ways of eating and how to prepare some of these foods,” says Dan, who was the deli chef for the first decade. “Few people knew what tofu or tempeh were, though those products are prolific now.”
As it became easier to purchase larger quantities of free-range organic meats that were grass-fed and antibiotic-free, the Portas began to include meats in their diets, in their store and in the deli. “I believe we were the first store in the area to carry organically raised meats. We’d go to Wolfe’s Neck Farm and pick up the ground beef and steaks.”
Today, Lois’ Natural Marketplace is a full-service grocery store, offering organic produce, meats and dairy products, groceries, frozen foods, beer and wine, bulk foods, supplements and herbs, natural health and beauty products, and gift items like socks, notebooks, water bottles and candles, all made sustainably. The deli makes soups, sandwiches, salads and baked goods from scratch each morning that are a mix of vegan and more traditional recipes.
“We have a deep appreciation for vegan food and for vegan baking,” Lois says. “One of our popular cake recipes, for example, is the birthday cake I made for our own children.”
Organic produce at Lois’ Natural Marketplace. COURTESY PHOTO.
Customers know that all the produce is organic and, if in season, likely to have been grown right in town at Frith Farm.
“There weren’t a lot of organic farms in Maine when we first opened,” Dan says. “There are now, responding to growing demand. Stores like ours have supported the organic farming movement in Maine by creating a market for it.”
Within five years, they had outgrown their original 1,800-square-foot space and built a 5,000-square-foot freestanding store at the center of the same shopping plaza. Dan was a practicing architect at the time and styled the building after a traditional Japanese rural farmhouse, connecting the aesthetic to agriculture while maintaining the sight line to the other shops. A deep overhang at the front provides protection from direct sunlight and a bit of room for outdoor seating and growing herbs and seedings.
An average of 500 customers a day shop at Lois’ Natural Marketplace, which has 30,000 loyalty customers.
While access to organic and natural products continues to grow, the Portas are always thinking about ways to reduce the environmental impact of their business. For example, all cardboard and paper packaging is environmentally friendly and the little waste the store generates is recycled.
“Our focus now is to think heavily and wisely about eco-friendly packaging, such as glass jars that customers can reuse,” Lois says. “And, though we have access to organic food on a global level, our carbon footprint always factors into our decisions.”
The founders of The Green Store were Ellie Daniels, Bob Fenton and Bill and Pene Behrens, shown here with some of their children in 1993. Today, Ellie Daniels runs the shop. COURTESY PHOTOS.
The Green Store • Belfast, Maine
With a similar mission but in a general store format, The Green Store on Main Street in Belfast—which opened within weeks of Lois’ Natural Marketplace—is also focusing more and more on sustainable packaging. Their eclectic inventory includes composting toilets and solar-powered lights, nontoxic cleaning products, organic and tree-free paper products, locally made handmade soaps, Fair Trade textiles—and a whole lot more.
Store owner Ellie Daniels buys from 350 small producers, and if she gets a box with packing materials that aren’t biodegradable, she makes a phone call. “Whether they are receptive to making changes really makes a difference to me whether I’ll buy from that supplier again,” Daniels says. “We’re focused on getting the plastic out of our lives.”
For that reason, The Green Store carries bulk shampoos, conditioners and hand soaps; bring-your-own-container cleaning products; toothpaste tablets; reusable water bottles, lunch kits and cutlery; alternatives to plastic bags and wraps; and detergent that comes in sheets in a compostable envelope.
These plastic-free alternatives are increasingly available statewide. Rather than being concerned about competition, Daniels says, “We want these things to be widespread and readily available.”
What won’t you find at the Green Store? Now that they’re available in larger, more mainstream stores, you’ll have to shop elsewhere for energy-saving appliances, LED lightbulbs and zero-VOC paints.
“There have been a lot of products that we brought in and were at the front of the wave selling them in this part of Maine, things that were big parts of our business for years and no longer are,” Daniels says. “But that’s good. Business is an agent for change and we really can make a difference in the world. Bit by bit.”
Secondhand clothing at Forget Me Nots consignment store. COURTESY PHOTO.
Falmouth State Legislator Amy Kuhn (right) presents a Sentiment from the State of Maine celebrating the 30th anniversary of Forget Me Nots to founder Jeannine Forget (left), whose shop has sold more than half a million items of gently used clothing. COURTESY PHOTOS
Forget Me Nots • Falmouth, Maine
In Falmouth, a locally owned consignment store has been embodying this same ethos by changing the local culture around secondhand clothing for three decades.
When Jeannine Forget first opened Forget Me Nots in Cape Elizabeth in 1993, customers were concerned that they might buy something that belonged to someone they knew. But over time, she saw people become more comfortable with buying gently used clothing.
Goodwill of Northern New England, for example, processes more than 52 million pounds of donations a year, most of it clothing. But when it comes to clothing that’s been only gently used, shops like Forget Me Nots fill a niche, allowing the original owners to get some of their investment back. Forget Me Nots’ inventory tracking software goes back only 20 years, but in two of their three decades, they have sold 415,000 items of clothing. That’s a lot of waste diverted.
Five years after opening the shop in Cape Elizabeth, Forget and her daughter MJ Spurr opened a second shop on Route 1 in Falmouth. Eventually, they sold the Cape Elizabeth shop (which—a quarter of a century later—is still a consignment shop, now named Fox + Doe) to focus on the higher-traffic location in Falmouth. About a decade ago, Forget Me Nots moved just down the road to The Shops at Falmouth Village, where they have wide pine floorboards, plenty of natural light, and two other consignment shops—Lots to Tots and Fashion Gods—as neighbors.
“We keep our standards high and our prices reasonable,” Forget says.
“The people who bring stuff in make money, we make money and it’s really recycling at its best.”
These days, Spurr manages the store, sorting through incoming bags of clothing for gently used items that include name brands like L.L. Bean, Banana Republic, Burberry, Eileen Fisher, J.Crew, Lululemon, North Face and Patagonia.
“Our customers expect good quality clothes,” Spurr says. “We’re selling from someone’s closet—no new manufacturing, no chemicals produced and no shipping. People will buy something kind of high-end and only use it a few times, consign it with us, get a little something back. Everyone wins.”
“Business is an agent for change and we really can make a difference in the world. Bit by bit.”
On the cover: Judi steps out of a cabin in the 100-Mile Wilderness to fresh falling snow.