Two Scarborough antique stores close doors

SCARBOROUGH — Two longstanding antique stores located on opposite ends of Route 1 in Scarborough, not to mention on opposite ends of the market, are closing their doors.

Both businesses are run by septuagenarian owners who say the market has changed dramatically in recent years.

Centervale Farm Antiques, which has offered fine antiques and collectables at 200 U.S. Route 1 since 1991, ended regular business hours Saturday. Owners Stephen and Pat Center say they will continue to see customers “by chance or by appointment.” Meanwhile, Cliff’s Antique Market, an 85-booth consignment shop that’s home to more affordable memorabilia, will end 28 years in business at 370 U.S. Route 1 in October, when its rental agreement runs out.

In preparation for that day, Luanne Page, daughter of Cliff’s owner Jean Martin, will open Cliff’s Too Jan. 7 at 885 Portland Road, in Saco, across Route 1 from Frank Galos Chevrolet & Cadillac.

“An opportunity presented itself on Route 1 at a good price, so I had to jump now,” said Page of the new location

Martin, 72, will stay on the original store until October. When Dr. Mark Elkinson, of Maine Family Eye Care bought the 0.98-acre lot in December 2010 as Future Visions Realty LLC, he reportedly gave Martin two years until he intended to take over the space. Martin will take advantage of that time because “I have too much stuff,” she said with a laugh. Cliff’s is 6,400 square feet, while Cliff’s Too, which Page will own and run, is 2,000 square feet.

“I could fill her place up twice,” joked Martin.

She says business has “been off some” the last couple of years, since the recession kicked in. Page, on the other hand, is less circumspect. “This past summer has to go down as one of the worst,” she said on Friday, her last day at her mother’s shop.

The Centers say their business also has trailed off in recent years, partly because of the economy, but also, they think, because of changing values. Younger people just don’t seem to have the same interest in old glass and china or Victorian furniture, says Stephen Center, and, as such the market in all areas has atrophied over the last decade.

“The recession has hurt,” said Pat Center, “but the younger generation does not collect. They don’t particularly care about antiques.”

“In the last decade, furniture has really hit the bottom,” said Stephen Center. “Basically, the older group who used to come in here for glass and china, people in their 50s, aren’t interested in that like the people who are now in their 80s. What they want to spend their money on now is technology, or automobiles.”

When furniture is on the buy list, Center says, today’s shopper wants something practical, not 18^th-century chairs made to fit a predominately different body type.

“We’ve had a good run, this has been a fun business, but it’s time for us to say we’ll do it when we want to and do it our way.”

The Centers began their business in 1991 in the building now occupied by The Cheese Iron. In 1996 they bought an adjacent motel and built out the rest of the 18,000-square-foot Centervale Farm complex, occupying the large barn-like structure that is the centerpiece of the site. They sold the 6.5-acre property to Ram Management Co. in 2006, intending to close at that time. However, when offered a space below the barn by Ram own Howard Goldenfarb, the Centers decided to keep at the business they loved, which they began as a second career while Stephen Center was still president of Unum. They reopened in August 2007, on a three-year lease. When the time came to close, they re-upped for one more year. Now, they have another one-year lease.

“It’s sort of embarrassing, because we keep closing,” said Pat Center, with a laugh. “We will continue working out of this space, but this time we will not be open for daily business.”

Stephen Center, who also will continue to keep several booths at Cliff’s for his smaller items, says that while he remains fascinated by objects, it’s the people he’s met who have been the real joy of the antiquing trade.

On that, Martin is in complete agreement.

“It’s been a good business,” she said. “I haven’t got rich, but I’ve had a good time.”