Staff Writer
HOULTON — Eclectic, vintage, contemporary or country — Home Accents of Houlton has some of each situated in its North Street shop.
Pioneer Times Photos/Sarah Berthiaume
AT HOME ON NORTH STREET — Owners Bob and Helen Cadigan opened Home Accents of Houlton this week on North Street with a variety of home furnishings, linens, glassware and more.
“There are so many styles you can put together if you experiment a little bit,” says Helen Cadigan, who owns and operates the new home furnishings store with her husband Bob.
“And you’ll see everything here from old barn board to crystal,” he adds. “We want to offer quality goods at reasonable prices.”
The Cadigans have spent their summer preparing to open the shop in a refurbished home on North Street. With some painting and minor renovations, the 19th century house made a Sept. 19 debut as Home Accents of Houlton.
Opening day included a ribbon-cutting ceremony with town officials and representatives from the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, but the Cadigans said their favorite part was welcoming customers to the new shop.
“We had a blast. It was a great opening day,” said Bob. “But the best part of the day was the reaction of people as they came into the store to check out the merchandise. They liked what they saw; they liked how it was arranged, and they thought the prices were fair.”
The goal, they said, is to offer something to fit every style.
“We want to offer people more choices,” said Bob. “We want people to be able to walk in and get ideas they can use in their own home.”
Home Accents seems like a perfect fit for the couple who moved to the area two and a half years ago. Bob had worked in retail, setting up franchise businesses, for close to 30 years, and Helen always had a knack for decorating, they said.
“Our family and friends say, ‘Who needs Martha Stewart when you’ve got Helen?,’” says Bob with a grin.
The idea for the shop started when they were looking for items to decorate their own house.
“If you want these type of furnishings, most of the time you have to head to Bangor or look around on the Internet,” said Bob. “So, one day we started going through a list of things we’d want to have in a store like this and it all just took off from there.”
Home Accents offers all types of home decorating pieces — everything from framed art, linens, glassware, lamps and more — for the kitchen, living room, dining room and home office.
“You make product selections partly based on what you like and partly on what you think other people will like,” said Bob. “But we believe the key is to have new items coming in all the time. … We’ve started the store this way [with these types of items], but the customers will decide which way it will go in the future.”
Home Accents of Houlton, located at 43 North St., is open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, contact them at 532-7964.
