A sex shop with locations across the country will open its next store in Bangor as soon as this month.
Adam and Eve carries lingerie for women and men, adult games and sex toys, among other products, online and at its stores. It has more than 100 stores in the United States as well as locations in Canada and Peru, according to its website.
Each of the stores is independently owned and operated by franchise owners like Kraig McGee, who is co-owner of the shop opening in Bangor. He and family members own 22 other stores that are scattered around the nation, though most are in Idaho, where they are based.
This will be Adam and Eve’s first location in Maine. The store’s opening gives Bangor-area people a place to shop for a variety of adult products, which range from lubricants and massage oils to devices. McGee’s business caters to women and couples, and patrons will not find products that are overly explicit or sexual, he said.
Bangor does not have a business like Adam and Eve, but there are other adult novelty stores in southern Maine. Dave’s Movie Center and Romantic Supermart, a video rental and adult novelty store, closed this summer after about 40 years in business.
“We do not carry any DVDs, videos or magazines,” McGee said. “We do not carry pornographic material. Our mission is more about sexual health and wellness.”
Adam and Eve’s opening date depends on staffing, but McGee is targeting Oct. 27.
McGee’s family has friends who live in Bangor, and one of their original store managers in Boise, Idaho, is from Milford, he said. She moved home to Maine and will be managing the Bangor location at 657 Broadway, where staff members were setting up the store Tuesday.
The stores that McGee oversees are made to feel like a boutique and break away from the old-school feel of an adult novelty store, he said. Patrons should feel empowered about their sexuality while shopping, he said, and staff are educated about the products.
Maine-based GTH Properties LLC, which owns the building at 657 Broadway, applied for a certificate of occupancy for Adam and Eve to open, Bangor’s Code Enforcement Director Jeff Wallace said. The city’s code enforcement department completed an inspection and granted the certificate Oct. 10, he said.
The location used to be an Amato’s, a Maine-based sandwich chain. It closed in the summer of 2021, and the site was demolished, Wallace said. The new building is home to Brothers Cannabis in the rear, and the front half has been waiting for a new tenant.
If the new Bangor store is well-received, McGee said he might expand to places such as Augusta or Portland. The company grew from seven to 23 stores since he joined his family business, SBJ LLC, in 2018.
Adam and Eve looks forward to becoming part of Bangor’s business community and educating patrons for decades to come, McGee said.
“We really believe that sexual expression is a natural part of life,” he said. “People deserve to explore that in a place that is non-judgmental. We hope it resonates with the local community.”
