CARIBOU, Maine — A downtown Caribou building that began as a 1950s car repair garage is now home to a gift shop that combines road trip nostalgia with modern Maine favorites.
Fifty8andMaine opened in late November at 81 Sweden St. with locally made clothing, baseball hats, sweets, coffee mugs and other gift items tailored to modern tastes. Everything in the store, including the name, referring to owner Joe Lapierre’s 1958 Chevy, is an homage to the past and tribute to Maine and Aroostook.
As Caribou looks to add more downtown businesses and promote entrepreneurs through new seasonal events, Lapierre sees his business as another unique draw for locals and visitors alike.
When visitors walk in, they’ll see the cashier’s area decked out with the shiny yellow front hood of a 1972 Volkswagen bus. Turn right, and they’ll see a custom-built Harley Davidson motorcycle propped up by the garage’s original wooden vehicle lift, amongst an array of lobster stuffed animals, magnets and other seaside-themed items.
Folks can find the back end of the Volkswagen bus as they turn a corner, transformed into a sunglasses display, surrounded by Maine sweatshirts and hoodies on either side.
It’s an old-school vibe that Lapierre said harkens back to the early days of the U.S. interstate system and his family’s own road trip memories. Lapierre and family lived in Van Buren until he was 10 years old, then moved to Florida, but visited Maine annually.
“Every time we visited or family came to visit us, they always wanted to bring something with them,” Lapierre said. “I wanted this [shop] to be a place where people can take a piece of Aroostook and Maine back home.”
Lapierre and wife Lianne moved their family back to Aroostook in 2008 and opened Boulevard Graphix in Limestone, later expanding to a second location in Presque Isle. Their decal and other design work has been seen on a variety of County fixtures, including school buses and local restaurants.
For the last five years, Lapierre had been eyeing the former 1950s car garage, which in more recent decades was a Gulf gas station, showroom for Gary’s Auto Sales and storage space for Gary’s Yamaha. Now, he’s using his graphic skills to design custom t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, baseball caps and coffee mugs for Fifty8andMaine.
The shop also sells Maine food favorites, including the Maine Needham Company, Bixby Chocolate and Coastal Maine Popcorn Company, and local favorites like homemade ploye mix and maple syrup.
“We wanted stuff for the locals that normally they would have to drive far to get,” Lapierre said.
Lapierre will be tailoring many of the store’s clothing items toward different seasons, like those with snowmobile images for winter tourists and then fishing and lakeside themes for summer. Another section is dedicated to swag from local school sports teams.
Since opening on Black Friday, Lapierre and his staff of four have seen many people come in search of unique Christmas gifts, and expanded the store’s hours to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m.; Sunday.
Lapierre has not yet announced Fifty8andMaine’s post-holiday hours but said he has gotten a great reception from shoppers. He hopes that the store’s vintage car garage layout, with its large and inviting windows, will entice more to stop by.
“One of the unique things [about this building] is how you can see the entire store from the outside,” Lapierre said. “I’ve always liked the old car garage and thought that there needed to be a place like this in Aroostook.”
