From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

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Maine Town Votes to Ban Chain Stores


Story by Margaret Foster / Nov. 9, 2005

Yesterday voters in Ogunquit, Maine, passed an ordinance that bans chain stores in their four-square-mile coastal town. About 79 percent of voters in the town of 1,300 supported the measure.

"I'm thrilled that so many people actually voted. Ogunquit is pristine, and I think we have the responsibility to keep it that way, and apparently so do 500 other people in town," says resident Mary Breen, who owns a local bakery.

Last spring, when Breen heard that a Dunkin Donuts might move into town, she rolled into action, gathering enough signatures on a petition to put the item on the Nov. 8 ballot. "I've lived here all my life and thought there already was this ordinance [against chain stores]."

Ogunquit, which already had a law against drive-through restaurants, is the second town in Maine to adopt such a ban. Last year, voters in adjacent York passed a similar law to prevent chain stores from opening. More than a dozen towns in the country have bans against chain stores.

Nearby Freeport has a design ordinance that forces corporations like McDonald's to fit into the historic neighborhood, but that's not enough, Breen says.

"You can make it look like a quaint little building, but it's still a business that's taking money away from local people, and it's not unique," Breen says. "Everywhere you go, no matter where you go, everything looks the same."

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