By Dominik Lobkowicz
Wine shop McKean & Charles in Waldoboro recently closed and will soon be replaced with Waldoboro House of Pizza. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
The Waldoboro wine store McKean & Charles closed down in January, but a restaurateur is getting ready to open the location up as the new Waldoboro House of Pizza.
Charlie Koutsikos, most recently the owner of Athens Pizza in Dover-Foxcroft, is opening the new business and plans to offer a full takeout or eat-in menu, including pizza, subs, calzones, lasagna, and salads.
The restaurant will be open seven days a week, likely between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., Koutsikos said.
According to Koutsikos, he recently sold his restaurant in Dover-Foxcroft and has owned others around the state in the past.
Renovations are currently ongoing at the space, which Koutsikos is leasing from owner Ted Wooster. Koutsikos plans to live above the restaurant.
McKean & Charles, in the meantime, has closed and its inventory has been moved off-site, Wooster said. Wooster’s son, Luke, ran the store for about the last three years, Wooster said.
Ted Wooster pointed to the beer and wine market as the reason for the closure, saying the market fell apart in 2008 and 2009. “It didn’t come back,” he said.
Despite several other pizza joints already operating in town, Wooster sees opportunity in Waldoboro for the right pizza place.
“Whoever gets there first in Waldoboro, in my opinion, with a quality product, should do quite well with pizza,” Wooster said.
The loss of Randy Raymond, the owner of the nearby Movie Pizza Shoppe, in January was regrettable, Wooster said. The business has been closed since, and its future remains uncertain.
The past couple of years have been a time of ebb and flow for pizza in Waldoboro. The Lower Deck opened and closed in 2013, Harvest Moon opened for its first season in 2014, and Goodnow’s Variety closed in 2014 and sold earlier this month to the owners of Hilltop Stop, who plan to make the site a sister store to their Damariscotta location.
Flipper’s Market and Maritime Farms have stayed steady right along, as has Townline Video Plus, just over the Warren line.
It may come down to a matter of days whether Waldoboro House of Pizza or Hilltop Stop opens first.
On Feb. 17, Koutsikos anticipated opening within 30 to 45 days; at the auction of Goodnow’s on Feb. 6, Hilltop Stop co-owner Gary Gravel estimated he would open the new location within 45 days.
