Harbor-Tech Solutions in Boothbay Harbor is in new hands. Longtime owner Russell Brackett has sold the business to manager Nick Mirabile and his wife Emily. Their 15-month-old son Oscar will act as mascot and entertainer. With both parents’ acting blood running through his veins, he’s already a pretty accomplished dancer.

Mirabile, 32, has worked at the business off and on since it was Video Loft and he was in high school. He has worked there full-time for 10 years.

Brackett first approached the Mirabiles around a year ago, when he decided it was time to retire.

“This is a tough business to sell to just anybody. Nick grew up with it. He knows it inside out, and this was just the logical way to go. Ironically I learned that they had been talking about it anyway.”

A couple years ago, Brackett and Mirabile started what has now become a big part of the business. “We started looking at what was needed in the area,” Mirabile said. “People kept coming in needing help with (technological) questions, and asking if we could go to their homes to help them figure out how to set up and fix things.

Last March, Mirabile started making service calls to homes. Word spread and now he’s doing at least two home visits daily.

He said it’s not just the fixing that’s important. “A lot of people don’t know how to do this kind of thing, and some just don’t want to. But the most important aspect of it is really the interaction with people. They want something fixed, but they also want me to explain it.”

“I like to make sure that they’re feeling better about it before I leave. Sometimes the simplest things to some people aren’t simple to others.”

Mirabile will fix television issues, and help with computer and phone problems, pretty much anywhere on the peninsula. Last summer, he even went out to Squirrel Island a couple times.

“Emily and I really want to look for services and things that are needed in this area. That was one of the big things that was needed here. People need help ... (Our goal is) to continue what we’re doing, and continue to add to it.”

Emily, a former math major, is managing the bookkeeping end of the business, when not acting as Arts and Humanities Director and Director of Camping Services with Y-Arts, which she’s been with for 12 years.

Brackett, whose brother started Video Loft in 1984, joined the business two years later after he stopped lobstering. He said he can relax now, knowing his “baby” is in the best possible hands. “It needs new blood, and that’s the new blood right there,” he said, indicating Nick. “Nick has been with me forever.”

“Russell has done a great job and evolved the business over time,” Nick said in response. “And I’ve learned it all from him, so I’m taking a piece of him and running with it.

Longtime employees like Leisha McDonald, who has headed up the photo lab department for over 25 years, make the transition easier, too. “Leisha is very important here,” Mirabile said. “She’s already been doing this forever, and she’s the best.”

The Mirabiles were friends at Boothbay Region High School, where they were both involved in theater. After graduating,  he had acting on his mind, and he took off for Los Angeles, where he lived for a while before heading to Florida. He lived there with his sister for a while.

He eventually made his way back to Boothbay Harbor, where he ran into his old friend, Emily. “She said, ‘Come do theater with me.’ I took this job because it allowed me to do theater with her.”

He said living in California and meeting and dealing with a variety of different people helped him gain some of the skills he incorporates into his business dealings here. But he missed the small town atmosphere.

“Emily and I decided we wanted to settle here because of that, and because it’s a good place to live with a family.

Mirabile said Brackett is like family to them, and will always be considered a part of the business, whether he’s there or not. Brackett said he doesn’t miss going to work, yet, anyway.

“I might if I thought for one second it wasn’t in good hands. I put a lot into this place, and the last thing I wanted was to have someone come in and (ruin) it. I can’t think of better people to take over. It’s going to be like a slingshot. Once they get their feet wet, and get going, I think it’s going to take off like crazy.

“And it’s really nice to have Emily involved. She has a different way of thinking of things. She thinks of things he might not think of. They’re a great team.”

“I try to help with Y-Arts stuff, and she’s helping me,” Mirabile said. “She’s coming up with new ideas, and I’m like, ‘Yes! let’s do it!”

Brackett knows the Mirabiles will make it work, together. “It takes a lot of mutual respect to make this work.”

“We were best friends in high school, and then we were best friends later, when I came back from California, and then we got married,” Nick said with a smile. And now they have their tiny dancer to keep customers entertained.

There may be some changes coming as the new owners get situated, but for now Harbor-Tech Solutions will remain as-is. “We don’t want to change it too much, because it’s something that the community has grown to know as an established business,” Emily said.

Even if you don’t need a new electronic device, or to get your phone, television or computer fixed, stop by Harbor-Tech to congratulate the new owners. And if you’re lucky, Oscar will be there, and he might just dance for you.

Harbor-Tech Solutions is located at 185 Townsend Ave. Call 207-633-6509.