Misty Burgess was thrilled when she was given a permanent location at Maine Micro Artisans in downtown Bangor in late October where she could sell her handmade jewelry.
So she was stunned when the store closed permanently Monday night and she scrambled to find a new location to sell her goods through her company, M’s Gems. By Wednesday she found a new location in Bangor.
Then, Maine Micro Artisans announced Thursday it would reopen. But Burgess will not keep her products in the store. The company still owes her money.
“How can I trust that she is not going to shut down again when she gets overwhelmed?” Burgess said of Maine Micro Artisans’ owner, Mary Plummer.
The whiplash caused by the sudden closure and then planned reopening of the Bangor and Portland stores has left vendors unsure what to do next, especially as the holiday shopping season — a profitable time for artists — gets in full swing. Numerous vendors said they are owed money from Maine Micro Artisans and will not continue to sell their products with the company.
Maine Micro Artisans has two locations, which allow around 260 Maine makers to sell their art, food and other items. The Bangor location relocated to 21 Washington St. in August after previously being located in the Bangor Mall. There’s another location in the Maine Mall in Portland.
The business provides a venue for the artists to sell their work, then collects the money when an item is sold. Maine Micro Artisans keeps a portion of the sale amount, but is supposed to send the rest of the funds to the vendors.
The stores are scheduled to reopen Monday after new resources were found, Plummer said. An accountant will handle bookkeeping and payouts to vendors, Plummer said. She provided no additional details about how that system will work and declined to say who provided the resources to reopen because she was not sure if they would want the information public.
There will be fewer vendors in the stores as people pull their art, wary of the company’s future. Numerous vendors are taking their items and selling them at other locations. Several vendors shared copies of unpaid invoices and emails seeking payment from Maine Micro Artisans with the Bangor Daily News.
Maine Micro Artisans owes around $40,000 to vendors, and $20,000 in outstanding invoices, Plummer said. The company will work to ensure people receive the money they’re owed, her statement said. The company also owes back rent for both locations and landlords are working on payment plans or reducing rent so they can move forward, Plummer said.
Plummer knows not all vendors will stay with the company, she told the BDN on Thursday. She said she does not have a firm timeline to repay vendors, both those who are leaving and those staying.
The lack of a timeline is “not to be vague with them but with the intention of not providing a timeline I cannot meet,” she said. Her goal is repayment by Christmas but she is not confident it’s a timeframe she can stick with.
Jordan Mini, who owns the zero-waste personal care and cleaning product company Spriggits, said she will be picking up her items from both Maine Micro Artisans locations. While she wishes the company the best and hopes things turn around, the rollercoaster of changes is not worth it.
“I see her promise to repay vendors but after months of not being paid and hearing my fellow makers’ horror stories I just don’t have a lot of faith,” Mini said. “As a business owner I have enough to worry about so I can no longer trade the possibility for a few sales with the stress and unpredictability of working with [Maine Micro Artisans].”
Mini has had products at the store since July and said she has not been paid for any sales. Losing the large retail space will hurt her sales, but it doesn’t make a big difference because she wasn’t being paid.
“I am losing hope that I will see those funds and as a small business owner in this economy that hurts,” Mini said.
Healing Hive Collective, which is owed money from Maine Micro Artisans, will keep its products in the store, owner Amber Tincher said. She was shocked by the closure but is hopeful the company can recover.
When deciding to close, Plummer said her mental and physical health had been suffering greatly while trying to run the business. Bonnie Woodhead, who sells art at the store under the name Bipolar Artistry, empathized with Plummer as someone who has her own mental health struggles.
Woodhead was sad to hear about the closure and is glad Plummer found a way to reopen.
“I was elated that I can still keep my little mini shop,” Woodhead said.
Instead of removing her inventory, she will be bringing more into the shop Sunday.
Trust in Maine Micro Artisans isn’t something Burgess has anymore. As a cancer survivor, her jewelry is her only source of income. She hasn’t heard anything more about when she’ll get paid and is concerned she won’t be able to pick up her inventory from the Bangor store.
She is hopeful her new spot at Yummy in Your Tummy and Xtreme Nutrition will bring in holiday sales.
“I really hope that, number one, they’ll take care of the people that were in their stores,” Burgess said of Maine Micro Artisans. “And pay the small businesses because that’s our livelihood too.”
