A Northport shop that has rented and delivered kayaks and paddleboards for the past 11 years is closing at the end of the season, owner Terra Warner confirmed.
Don Pedro’s Kayak & Water Rentals, at 1300 Atlantic Highway, will be fully liquidated by the end of October.
A chalked message under the business’s sign was the only indication of the upcoming closure.
“I love making people happy on the water,” Warner said. “I love tourists to have a good time.”
Warner has offered just that to residents and visitors without boats of their own for the past 11 seasons. She is stepping down amid obligations to her family, who are based out of Palm Beach, Florida.
“Family comes first,” Warner said.
She wants to see her grandchildren grow up while remaining connected to the entrepreneurial ventures she’s long been part of, since all of her children are entrepreneurs themselves.
Warner has kept the company running since her husband Don’s death in 2018. Prior to moving to Maine, Warner ran vacation rental businesses in Colorado and Florida through Warner Vacation Property Management.
In Northport, she and her husband opened Dos Amigos, a Mexican restaurant several doors down in the building that is now The Hoot restaurant.
Years later, Warner’s husband fell ill and the pair decided to sell their restaurant and pivot to vacation hospitality. They acquired what then became Don Pedro’s, one of the several kayak and boat rental shops in the region.
“My husband started it, and then he passed away, and I kept doing it. I don’t know why,” Warner said. “I guess I enjoyed the people, and I joined some kayak groups, and I just fell in love with kayaking.”
Don Pedro’s operated “like a taxicab service,” Warner said, because she delivered all vessels anywhere her patrons wanted to spend a day on the water. Warner would socialize with her customers, often taking souvenir photographs of them or passing on recommendations for the best spots to visit nearby.
“You’re always on call to whoever calls that needs to go, whether they want to go to an island in Camden, or Ducktrap River, or Belfast, and you have to load up your kayaks and get your equipment there, and meet them there. Then you’ve got to figure out how to load them all up and work everybody back in,” Warner said. “When they finish, they text and say, ‘We’re done.’”
Despite operating without any digital presence, the shop’s reputation and prime location have kept it on the radar of locals and passersby, setting the stage for the wave of interest in the property as the season winds down.
The property has received an outpouring of interest as it nears closure, with ideas to turn the property building into a furniture store, a dog training center, automotive and detail shop, or even to be repurposed as a residence. Warner has received more offers for the business than she can count.
Assets on the property are also up for grabs. So far, Warner has sold the majority of the business’s kayak. Warner plans to leave any unsold assets in front of the property after it closes, free for passersby.
As Warner steps away from the midcoast, her business, and the history she’s built, she’s still excited for what’s to come, and anticipates only coming back to Maine again in the future for “pleasure, rather than business,” she said.
