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As the commercial hub for eastern, central and northern Maine, Bangor offers a wide variety of stores, from small independently owned local shops to national "big box" chains. The city has major shopping centers spread out near the city limits and a rebuilding downtown retail center.
Downtown Bangor is bouncing back from losing business to the Airport Mall and Bangor mall areas. Numerous small eateries dot the intimate downtown area, offering specialties such as bagels, sandwiches, pizza, Italian food. The Grasshopper Shop, in West Market Square, offers novelty items and trinkets. Downtown's largest store, Epic Sports -- formerly Cadillac Mountain Sports -- on Central Street offers outdoor recreational gear. Other, locally owned, stores downtown offer shoes, clothes, wedding gowns and formal wear, musical instruments, antiques and books. The downtown shopping district also offers three museums and a theater. The Maine Discovery Museum opened on Main Street in 2001 as the largest children's museum north of Boston. Its three floors of exhibits, activities and amusements appeal to people of all ages. The museum has a gift shop. A bit farther up Main Street, the Penobscot Theatre Company produces plays each fall and winter at the Bangor Opera House.
Across from City Hall, on Harlow Street, is Norumbega Hall, home to the University of Maine Museum of Art, which opened in December 2002. The museum features traveling exhibits featuring contemporary art, mostly, along with works from the museum's permanent collection of almost 6,000 works, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Andrew Wyeth. The downtown shopping district is also home to the Bangor post office, U.S. District Courthouse and government offices at the Margaret Chase Federal Building, on Harlow Street. The YMCA and YWCA have buildings on Hammond Street and Union Street. Banks with downtown branches and 24-hour ATMs include Bank of America, Key, Bangor Savings and United Kingfield. The downtown shopping district can be accessed most easily via U.S. Routes 1A and 2, I-395 and Maine Route 9.
Since the Bangor Mall's opening in 1978, the Stillwater Avenue and Hogan Road area has seen extensive commercial growth, most of it occurring in the last few years. The Bangor Mall shopping district is where you will find all of the city's major department and big-box stores. The mall itself offers Macy's, J.C. Penney, Sears, and Dick's Sporting Goods as its anchors, with smaller stores including Olympia Sports, Foot Locker, Lids, Victoria's Secret, American Greetings and Sam Goody. Maine's second-largest mall also features a food court with a selection that includes Dairy Queen and Sbarro. Perimeter stores, outside of the mall itself, include Staples, Borders Books and Music, Hannaford, Toys R Us, Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy. The 10-screen Bangor Mall Cinemas is next door to the mall. Restaurants in the mall's immediate area include Pizzeria Uno, Wendy's, Arby's and Bugaboo Creek. Smaller shopping centers and strip malls surround the Bangor Mall area. Across Hogan Road is the Maine Square Mall, which features Blockbuster and locally owned businesses that offer professional uniforms and sporting goods. Nearby restaurants include McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dunkin' Donuts and The Olive Garden. Springer Drive and Longview Drive, off Hogan Road, feature Wal-Mart, Burlington Coat Factory and Target. Stillwater Avenue features a Maine-owned pet supplies store, a locally owned crafts store and a handful of small, mini-strip malls that offer everything from jewelry to party balloons and hats to furniture, auto parts and sporting goods. Major stores include Advance Auto Parts, VIP and Harley-Davidson. The Hogan Road is by far Bangor's most congested thoroughfare. If you're going to the mall or the newly opened Parkade shopping center, consider taking I-95 Exit 186. The Bangor Mall shopping district can be accessed most easily via I-95, Exits 186 and 187. Airport Mall shopping district Area restaurants include McDonald's, Burger King and two locally owned family restaurants, one of which specializes in sea food while the other specializes in an atmosphere that's a throwback to the 1950s and 1960s. The Airport Mall shopping center can be accessed most easily via I-95, Exit 184 and U.S. Route 222.
When the Broadway Shopping Center opened in 1968, Bangor's era of strip malls and shopping centers began. Today, the shopping center continues to adapt, finding its own niche in a market dominated by the Bangor Mall district. Hannaford and T.J. Maxx 'n More are the center's anchor stores, complemented by Payless Shoe, Hallmark, Fashion Bug Plus, Dollar Store and Sherwin Williams. The Salvation Army has a thrift store on the east end of the center's parking lot. Area businesses include McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Friendly's, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, two locally owned restaurants, Subway, Rite Aid and a furniture gallery. The Broadway Shopping Center can be accessed most easily via I-95, Exit 185; and Maine Route 15. | ||||||||||||
