New Things Coming To Two Old Bangor Retail Space On Harlow Street

From the papered-up picture windows, it appears that something new will be coming to the corner of Harlow and Central Street in Bangor.

What was once the gift shop WillyWags, from about 2015 till the pandemic in 2020, the huge storefront on the bottom of the Rudman Winchell building (78 Harlow Street) was most recently home to another locally owned gift shop, Paloma's Gifts.

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Paloma's Gifts opened in that spot in August of 2021, but moved down the street a bit into their current digs on Central Street, where they now have a new storefront.

That move left the Harlow Street storefront vacant for a time. But that will soon change this spring, when a new business opens its doors.

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California native Wendy Dana moved to Maine just a few years ago. She's been working in finance and grant-writing for years, but decided it was time for a change.

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This spring, she plans to open "A Vintage Vixen" in that spot on Harlow Street.

"It's one of those things where you go 'You know what? I'm in my 50s, and it's time to do something.' If I'm gonna do it, I need to do it when I still have a lot of energy. I want to do something where when I go into work, I'm completely in love with my surroundings, and I'm my own boss and it's a great opportunity to still be part of the community."

Dana, who recently put in her notice at her day job is going "all in" on this new venture and is excited to share her passion for the past with the community and a new generation.

"This is actually something I've wanted to do for about 30 years. I've been into vintage since I was a teenager. My whole house is vintage from the 30s to the 50s....What I really want to do is have a space where people can see how to incorporate the old and the new...I will have things that I think will be very interesting to a lot of different age groups."

Dana was put in touch with the facilities manager of the building, and the conversation about putting a gift shop back in that space began.

Her lease started on January first, and where she's still working full-time, she's been working, bit by bit, to give the space a facelift.

"Honestly, I think when they walk in, they're just going to have to stare for a bit because there's nothing like this in this time."

"It's gonna be a lot of vintage feel to it, with interesting barware  and dishes and urns and things for the garden. Some curiosities and oddities. From tarot cards to smudging kids. Bathroom items. I'm creating rooms with different display cases, so people can just kind of trip through it. It's going to be a feeling when you go in."

"I'm really looking at doing a lot that dark cottagecore and the forestcore and the fairycore. I think a lot of people that area very into that out here are just going to love that because I haven't really seen anything like that here."

Dana says there will also be an area of the store where folks can actually sit and have tea parties or a craft night.

"I've got an area where you can sit and have tea, after hours, come with your girlfriends, bring a bottle of prosecco and have a place where people can actually sit in a beautiful surrounding and have a craft night or whatever."

It won't all just be vintage. Dana plans to have some newer brands that are funny/sassy/rude that folks can look forward to, as well.

Dana hopes to have to shop renovated, set up and ready to go by the beginning of April. She says the website should be up and running next week. In the meantime, you can follow A Vintage Vixen on Instagram by clicking here.

So keep your eye out for A Vintage Vixen, coming soon to Downtown Bangor.