How a tiny market in a shed kept Chebeague Island going this summer
Frannie Barnard, 14, and Lindsay Gaskins head inside Eagle Mart to shop on Chebeague Island on Thursday, Aug. 6. The small temporary store is run by two college students Mike Makee and Zach Serrano out of a 10-by-16-foot shed. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
CHEBEAGUE ISLAND — A gaggle of middle school-age boys sat at picnic benches outside of a shed, bikes strewn about under the August sun. They munched on candy and slurped sodas they had just purchased inside the 10-by-16-foot shed behind them.
One of the kids ducked back into the shack, called Eagle Mart, and boldly asked, “Can we have something for free?”
“No,” replied store owner Zach Serrano, 22, with a chuckle. “I told you, this is a business.”
Withdrawing his cash, the boy then paid for his next round of sour gummies, quickly adding his change to the college fund tip jar on the counter.
Whether for a sugar hit, sunscreen or a resupply of milk, Chebeague Island residents and visitors have been pulling up to Eagle Mart, the temporary store run out of a shed by college students and cousins Serrano and Mike Makee, 21.
It’s the first time since 1961 that the items aren’t for sale at Doughty’s Island Market.
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The island’s only year-round store and a community gathering place, Doughty’s closed at the end of March after 65 years in business following the retirement of its owner Julie Doughty. The loss of the store prompted nostalgia from island residents following decades of memories.
“I’m gonna get emotional talking about it. (I have) so many memories walking to that store barefoot,” said summer resident Katy Kuh, 50, as she stepped out of Eagle Mart on Aug. 6.
Zach Serrano rings up items for a group of kids at Eagle Mart on Chebeague Island on Aug. 6. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
While Julie’s son Joshua Doughty has since announced that he will reopen Doughty’s next spring, to the relief of island residents, many were still anxious about how they would get groceries in the meantime. The island has about 400 year-round residents, swelling to over 1,000 in the summer, and is only accessible by ferry or personal boat.
“It was a big source of panic when the store went down,” said Serrano.
Both students entering their last year of studying business at Miami University in Ohio and with longstanding ties to Chebeague, Serrano and Makee decided to put their classroom experience to use and open a pop-up market on the island this summer.
“We saw an opportunity and the need on the island to have a functioning store. So, you know, we both had the summer open, so we decided to open it up and give the community something back,” said Makee.
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Running Eagle Mart has taught them a lot both about business and Chebeague Island.
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Since they purchased and barged the shed to the island, outfitting it with a register, shelves and an industrial fridge, the store has been open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. since the second week of June. The store is located across from the Slow Bell Cafe on a lot they’re leasing from the cafe owner for the summer.
The cousins order and haul food deliveries to the island via Casco Bay Lines, in addition to their own resupply trips by ferry to Costco in Scarborough. Diet Coke is Eagle Mart’s most popular item by volume, they said, with alcohol being the largest category. Milk is a frequent purchase, as is candy.
Zach Serrano, 22, left, and Mike Makee, 21, at Eagle Mart on Chebeague Island in August. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
“I think I’ve learned more about business in these past three months than I have in three years in Miami,” said Makee. “There’s classroom learning and then there’s hands-on experiential learning.”
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Year-round residents are the most frequent customers, along with summer vacationers and their kids on bicycles who make up the bulk of their candy sales, a dedicated section of the store. Daily tourists, surprised that Doughty’s is closed, are also relieved to find a place to purchase anything on the 5-mile-long island.
“We’re so glad they opened because (Doughty’s closing) was real loss for the island,” said Lindsay Gaskins, who is from Chicago and spends summers on the island. “I’m so glad they were doing this business this year.”
“It’s really nice to have Eagle Mart for when you’re in a pinch,” said Kuh.
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Serrano grew up spending summers on the island, while Makee became a full-time islander with his parents when he was in high school. The cousins — third cousins, technically — are their family’s fifth generation on the island, which they know only sounds impressive on the mainland, as Chebeague has many families with 10 generations of islanders.
Despite growing up on the island, they’ve gotten to know Chebeague Island residents in a new way through the market.
Frannie Barnard, 14, and Lindsay Gaskins shop at Eagle Mart on Chebeague Island this month. The small temporary store is run by two college students Mike Makee and Zach Serrano out of a 10-by-16-foot shed. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
“Running this store, you meet literally everybody, and all of the island rumors come through us first, which is really fun,” said Makee.
While they grew up sharing island summers, Makee and Serrano have also gotten closer this summer as well.
Becoming “actual” friends only when they attended college together, their partnership makes the job of small business owner not feel like work, they both said. Amid staffing the store all day, making nearly daily ferry runs to restock, sitting up late at night together trying to figure out what to order and how to work QuickBooks, it might also be their favorite Chebeague summer yet.
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They both have to leave for their senior year of college on Aug. 20 and plan to hire someone to keep Eagle Mart open until Labor Day. They’ll run sales to get rid of the final inventory, donate the rest to the island’s food pantry and attempt to sell the shed.
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The cousins know that life on Chebeague Island without Doughty’s Market or the stopgap of Eagle Mart will be hard. While they considered keeping the store open, their permit is only for a temporary business and the shed is not insulated.
“There’s a lot of concern about what’s going to happen after we close,” said Serrano.
They know islanders are hardy and resourceful. For at least a summer, residents and visitors could have the convenience of Eagle Mart, they said. And the cousins could see a different side of Chebeague.
“We’re going back to school, and the island will just have to transition,” said Makee.
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Sophie is a community reporter for Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth and Falmouth and previously reported for the Forecaster. Her memories of briefly living on Mount Desert Island as a child drew her. More by Sophie Burchell
