By J.W. Oliver
The new dining room at Hilltop Stop feature 1950s-style tables and chairs with capacity for 23, as well as rebuilt coolers and a bigger beer and wine selection. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
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Hilltop Stop owners Gary and Jane Gravel pose in the new dining room of their Damariscotta store Friday, Oct. 17. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
The Damariscotta convenience store Hilltop Stop has completed extensive renovations and opened a new dining room with seating for 23.
The area offers five tables with 18 chairs and a counter with five stools. Diners can watch news and sports on a new flat-screen television or pick out their favorite tunes for free on an antique Wurlitzer jukebox.
Hilltop Stop owners Gary and Jane Gravel, of Damariscotta, bought the tables and chairs from a 1950s-style diner in New Hampshire. The jukebox and several pieces of decorative memorabilia come from Newcastle’s Indian Trail Antiques.
The vibe of the new area matches the Gravels’ original vision for a store with the feel of a classic Maine general store, Gary Gravel said.
The new section of the store also features rebuilt coolers with four more cooler doors, a Maine craft beer rack, a wine gondola, and additional groceries. “We added a lot more Maine microbrews,” Gary Gravel said.
The primary goal of the renovations, however, was to bring in more customers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Already, more people are coming in. The dining room opened just in time for the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest, and the store immediately shattered its food sales record for both a single day and a weekend.
“We’re going to expand the breakfast menu within the next four to six weeks,” Gary Gravel said. The lunch menu will remain the same, although they plan to offer more homemade specials.
Diners will continue to place their orders at the register and staff will bring food to the tables, Gary Gravel said. The store has hired two new employees and now has six full-time and three part-time workers.
The dining room occupies a space formerly home to Hilltop Stop Redemption Center, which now operates out of a separate building behind the store.
Hilltop Stop is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at 374 Main St. in Damariscotta. The kitchen will accept orders until the store closes.
For more information or to place an order, call 563-STOP (7867) or visit www.facebook.com/hilltopstop.
The Gravels wish to thank general contractor Mark Prior Builders, as well as Coastal Maine Wood Floors, Two Rivers Mechanical, Robert Genthner, Donnie Hyson, and especially his customers and staff.
The store only closed for 1 1/2 days near the end of almost five weeks of renovations, thanks to the good work of the contractors and an all-hands-on-deck effort one Sunday, Gary Gravel said.
He is “ecstatic” with the final product and has had great feedback from the community, he said.
