PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A grocery store that has been part of Presque Isle for decades will close its doors at the end of Thursday.
Steaks N’ Stuff, owned by brothers Jimmy and Joe Donahue, will close at 6 p.m., Jimmy Donahue announced earlier Thursday on Facebook.
The store is closing for purely personal reasons, Joe Donahue said Thursday morning. It’s unrelated to the Trump administration’s threatened tariffs on Canada, which has concerned many businesses near the border.
“Many events over the last year have been very trying for my brother and myself, and these personal situations in our lives have made it hard for both of us and our families to operate the store to what we feel is its fullest potential,” Jimmy Donahue said on social media. “I have spent 16 years of my life in this store, and this is one of the hardest decisions that I have ever made.”
Larger, big-box businesses may have an edge in urban areas, but rural Aroostook County has kept alive a number of independent markets — including Coffin’s General Store in Portage, Sleeper’s in Caribou and County Yankee in Houlton. Steaks N’ Stuff was one of those, too, favoring a smaller inventory and close community relationships.
The brothers bought the store in April 2023 from Dave Cunha, who owns County Yankee. Both had worked there for some time. Jimmy served in several roles, including night manager for 15 years, while Joe had worked for eight years in the store’s meat department.
Before it was Steaks N’ Stuff, the store was known as Friends Market. In the 1960s, it was Graves’ Red and White Supermarket, according to History in Stones, an Aroostook County story mapping site developed by faculty and students of the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
The Donahues’ immediate plans are unknown. Several community members reacted to Jimmy Donahue’s Facebook announcement with sadness, thanks and words of support.
“The individuals and families that I have met and become friends with have left me with memories I will cherish forever,” Donahue wrote.
