In Waldoboro, Midcoast Marine operates in a former auto parts store near Moody’s Diner, and store manager Jeremy Young knows most customers by name. He jokes with them, allows them buy on credit and sometimes he delivers their purchases if it’s not too far out of his way.
“I take stuff up to the house. A customer will say, ‘just throw it in my garage.’ He feels like you’re looking out for him. I just try to be friends with everybody,” said Young, who manages the store with his mixed-breed dog, Joe. Joe tries to be friends with everybody, too.
Young, 33, is no stranger to the business. He grew up on Matinicus, the offshore island where stepfather Rick Kohls fishes lobster for a living. A brother, Mike, builds lobster traps; another brother, Evan, works at Midcoast’s competition, Searsport-based Hamilton Marine.
Stocking a variety of items for the commercial fisherman, Midcoast Marine is a three-link chain with outlets in Waldoboro, Thomaston and Brunswick. None of the stores are nearly as big as those in the Hamilton Marine chain.
After attending Rockland District High School, Young was hired at 19 by Kevin Wescott of Rockland Boat, a business that was bought out by Hamilton Marine. Young worked nine months for Manset Marine before joining Midcoast, which is owned by Wescott.
Young works weekdays in Waldoboro and Saturdays at the Thomaston store. Wescott started the business 10 years ago.
Midcoast Marine Supply may be smaller than some stores but it’s well stocked. And Young says he provides personal, unhurried service; he can quickly order items not in stock. When clam diggers or lobstermen come through the door, Young can talk shop with them. Not all merchandise at Midcoast Marine is for commercial fishermen — recreational boaters also use moorings, electronics, stainless steel fittings, lifejackets, oars. But the bulk of the business comes from those who make their living from the sea.
“Your roots have to be people who pay your bills,” Young said.
July and August are the busiest months, and Young said the decline of groundfishing means a corresponding decrease in sales. “It’s been spiraling down for years,” he said.
He is hoping that tough fishery quotas will result in a comeback for cod and other profitable species. In a sign of hard times at sea, a dozen ads for lobster and other fishing boats are tacked around the store doorway.
Young attended the one-room Matinicus school. When he moved ashore for high school, living with relatives in Rockland, he went from eight classmates to several hundred, a traumatic transition for an island kid.
Still, he wouldn’t trade his island background. “We hardly ever watched TV. We didn’t have cell phones. We were walking trails, jumping off the ferryboat ramps, fishing off the lobster cars, building huts, playing in junked cars.”
His memories include friends and fires at Markey’s and South Sandy Beaches. Still, he has yet to take his two children, Kimberly, 12, and David, 8, to see the island.
Young said: “It’s cool to have a job where your friends [the customers] come and visit you every day. If you can’t get up and be happy going to work, you’re really in the wrong job.”