Photo courtesy Sharyn Peavey Photography

Step into The Spice & Tea Exchange® of Freeport on the hill below Main Street and you’ll first be met by the smell. Aromas drift from hundreds of glass jars filled with over 100 types of blended spices, 80+ full leaf teas, and countless salts, sugars, and honeys.

If you’re lucky, you’ll also meet Joel Elliot, the new owner of this Freeport franchise. You’ll know him by his sheer friendliness; he’ll get you talking, and before you know it, he’ll be whipping out a jar and recommending a particular type of tea for you to taste.

Joel is new to Freeport. He relocated from Rochester, New York to Maine with his wife in late 2025. They moved to be close to his son, daughter-in-law, and young grandson. Not long after arriving, Joel discovered an opportunity to take over The Spice & Tea Exchange of Freeport from its previous owners.

“I like to say I bought myself a job,” he says with a laugh.

The Spice & Tea Exchange has its roots in St. Augustine, Florida, where its founders transformed a small spice shop into a national franchise. Today, there are nearly 100 locations across the country, each independently owned and operated.

“They’ve built a magnificent system,” he says. “My job is to bring it to life here—to execute it well and further build a great team.”

Joel is building connections across the Freeport business community and wider food industry in Maine. He’s also booking bands for his new monthly concert series in the shop. He’s quick to credit CORE for supporting the swift transition of the store. “They’ve been great landlords—responsive, thoughtful, easy to work with,” he says. “When you’re starting something new, that kind of partnership really matters.”

He also points out that the product itself is impressive: “We’re not pulling products off a factory line. We’re zesting citrus, dehydrating ingredients, and blending spices by hand. It’s as close as we can get to what nature produces.”

CORE acquired 6 Mill Street several years ago; the building was vacant at the time. Since then, in addition to the Spice and Tea Exchange, the acclaimed Maine brand Sea Love has opened a gorgeous space on the upper floor. CORE has played a major role in bringing businesses back into Freeport’s downtown in the years since the Covid pandemic, and the town is currently seeing significant development interest as a result.

From his side, Joel has decades of leadership experience to draw on in his new venture; he spent 20 years in the travel industry and has worked for various nonprofit organizations in healthcare, food systems, and workforce development.

But in many ways, this new chapter is a return to something far more personal.

Back in the early 1980s, Joel launched a small coffee and tea concept in his friend’s bookstore in San Francisco. It was called Tradewind Coffee and Tea.

“It was just a little nook,” he says smiling. “But it planted the seed.”

More than 40 years later, that seed has sprouted, crossed the country, and taken root in Freeport, Maine.

The Spice & Tea Exchange of Freeport celebrates its grand re-opening on May 1-3. You can find it at 6 Mill Street, Freeport

Marc Feldman is known to some people as the "unofficial goodwill ambassador of Biddeford." For over a decade, this enigmatic business leader has been running Biddeford Coworking, one of the most successful coworking spaces in southern Maine. He’s friends with pretty much everyone in the city.

You’ll find Biddeford Coworking in Pepperrell Mill, just inside the main entrance at 40 Main Street. It’s a bright space with high ceilings and funky colors. There are all the things you’d expect in an office—desks, plants, and quiet corners for focused work—but there’s also conversation, laughter and the sense that people truly know one another.

This sense of community starts with Marc, who has spent more than a decade building a space where people want to come and work.

“I engage everybody,” Marc says. “I welcome everybody. The goal is to make people feel like they’re part of the community.”

Marc’s path to coworking wasn’t a straight one. Originally from Florida, he moved to Maine in 1984 and opened an Italian restaurant in Kennebunkport. After several years, he transitioned into the wholesale grocery trade, a business he still operates today—from his desk inside the coworking space.

“I’ve been a remote worker since 1991,” explains Marc. “I worked out of my house for decades.” But when his children left for college in the early 2010s, Marc realized that it was time to make a change. “You start becoming a basement troll,” he says with a laugh. “You don’t go anywhere, you don’t see people! I realized I needed to get out of the house.”

At the same time, the Pepperell Mill campus in Biddeford was beginning to come alive with new businesses and creative energy. Inspired by the growing coworking movement, Marc partnered with a Portland coworking founder to open the original space in 2015. In 2024, he purchased the business outright and rebranded it as Biddeford Coworking.

Today, the space is home to a wide range of professionals—from software developers and data scientists to real estate professionals, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and coaches. Many members are remote employees working for companies across the country.

“We have people who’ve been members here for nine years,” Marc says. “That says a lot about the relationships people build here.”

It’s also a time of new growth in the Pepperell Mill. With new owners CORE-Finard investing in the commercial spaces and a renewed focus on community, Marc is optimistic about the future.

“They are really trying to build the mill back into a vibrant center for the town,” he says. “An active community where businesses support each other.”

As Biddeford continues to grow and evolve, Marc plans to keep doing what he’s always done: creating a welcoming place where people can come to work and thrive in community.

“I didn’t want this to be a place where people just sit in an office,” he says. “People need other people. That’s what makes it work.”

Biddeford Coworking, 40 Main St., Suite 13-140, Biddeford, ME

Step into Market Square Jewelers on Portland’s Exchange Street and you’ll find yourself in a literal treasure trove. The store has a hushed, old-world feel with chandeliers and paintings of tall ships sailing in stormy seas. Peer down into the glass counters and you'll find an extraordinarily unique assortment of gemstones.

“It’s fascinating to work here,” says Bernadette Braeuer, a Brit who has spent the past three years managing this Portland location. “It’s full of stories.”

Market Square Jewelers is one of the largest estate jewelry businesses on the East Coast. The company, founded more than 40 years ago by Peter Henry, is now run by his daughter Elizabeth Andrews. They have seven stores across New England, from Portland to Portsmouth, NH, and Newburyport, MA. The family business is in a period of growth; it opened two new locations on Boston’s Charles Street and Newbury Street this past year.

As an estate jeweler, the pieces for sale here are already in circulation. You’ll find jewelry from the Georgian era all the way to current era—and every single piece feels like it has its own story. “We amass these beautiful treasures and save them from melt,” explains Bernadette. “Then we assist them on their journey. Our customers love finding something so unique.”

The pieces are sourced from estate sales and families across the US, with some gemstones brought in from Asia; founder Henry takes regular trips to Sri Lanka and Columbia. “The gemstones we sell are not commercial quality; ours are very high quality,” explains Bernadette.

The Portland store has been a smashing success throughout its 11-year history. “Our summer is very busy; it’s almost busier than the fourth quarter, which is unusual for jewelry,” says Bernadette. “We meet people from all over the world.”

But for all its old-world feel, the business also has an impressive young edge. Market Square Jewelers has over 84,000 followers on Instagram (@MarketSquareJewelers). They organize live events on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, where they draw a huge, national audience known as “Gemsters.”

“The Gemsters are so passionate,” says Bernadette with a smile. “They’re based all across the country and love attending the live events our online team manages.” More recently, the Portland store launched its own Instagram handle to promote its bridal collection, @MSJ_marryme

For anyone who is looking for a special and utterly unique item of jewelry, stop by Market Square Jewelers and let Bernadette and her team take you on a fascinating journey.

Market Square Jewelers, 17 Exchange Street, Portland ME