The Thistle Inn in Boothbay Harbor is a special place for Paul and Julie Roberts. It was where they had their first date, and it was where they decided to start a family. It was where they decided to open a popcorn store, and recently, it’s where they decided to move that store from its current location to the former allen david Gallery at 15 Townsend Ave.

“It’s where we make all our business decisions,” Julie Roberts said. “At the bar, after a couple of drinks, usually.” 

For three summers while she was in high school, Julie Roberts worked at Bean’s Corner Corn Company in Boothbay Harbor and loved it. Six years ago, burned out on hairdressing, Roberts began to think about how much fun working at Bean’s used to be, and she thought how great it would be to bring popcorn back to the harbor. 

After talking it over with her husband Paul at the Thistle, they decided to go for it. Coastal Maine Popcorn Company was born.

When they started, they made popcorn in their home kitchen in small batches. Now, six years later, Coastal Maine Popcorn has grown to include two stores, one in Boothbay Harbor and one in the Old Port of Portland, selling nearly 50 different flavors. Popcorn gets shipped all over the country to various gift stores, florists, etc., from Florida to Colorado. Internet and wholesale orders pour in, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with the demand.

Coastal Maine Popcorn has become so successful, the couple decided to move to a larger location. Their current store, across from the Boothbay Harbor Post Office, is around 1,200 square feet. This space houses production (for both the Portland and Boothbay Harbor locations) and sales, and is no longer large enough to accommodate the operation. 

So the couple signed a new lease after considering the space at 15 Townsend Ave.

“This move more than doubles our space,” Julie Roberts said. “We’re really excited to be on the main street. And with those big windows out front, I can do all sorts of holiday displays. I can’t wait to start decorating. 

“And we’ll actually have room for a real office, not just a desk crammed into a corner where the popcorn machine is so loud I have to stand in the alley to conduct business calls.”

The hours and season for Coastal Maine Popcorn will also be expanding as they move, Julie Roberts said. Normally the busy season for them has been from July 1 to Labor Day. Being on the main street in town, the season will now be from early May to mid-October, and they plan to be open nights.

“At night people often get candy or ice cream after dinner,” Julie Roberts said. “Now they’ll have another choice – popcorn.”

Production will move quickly to the new location within the next month, but retail will remain in the current location through the end of the year. Julie Roberts still plans to decorate the window displays for the holidays and the Early Bird sale, directing people up the hill. After the first of the year, Coastal Maine Popcorn will be closed for a week or two as they finish the move.

Every kernel of Coastal Maine Popcorn is air popped, hand-sifted to remove unpopped kernels and burned pieces, and the flavors are then cooked onto the pieces using a secret method. The popcorn has a shelf life of around 12 weeks (slightly less for the savory flavors).

“Our popcorn is unique because we don’t skimp on ingredients. We make the flavors strong,” Julie Roberts said. Certain flavors, such as the rosemary or olive oil and sea salt, are also all-natural. The chocolate popcorn started two years ago, when she realized how perfect it would be for the holidays. 

“I literally could not keep it on the shelf,” Julie Roberts said. “I would post on Facebook that I had 50 bags of a chocolate flavor, and people would send me messages saying how many bags they wanted, and within a couple of hours they’d all be sold. 

“It was a hit. Now we do different chocolate flavors all year long.”

The couple lives in Boothbay Harbor with their two daughters, Jackie and Olivia. When Olivia was born in the summer of 2011, she was known all over town as the “new kernel at the popcorn store.”