Two lively businesses are interested in opening shop in empty storefronts downtown.
A pinball gaming shop and a combination barber and collectible cards shop were each before the Planning Board April 22 asking for waivers so they can operate on Main Street.
The barber shop and collectible cards retail operation would be in the space formerly occupied by the South Berwick Pharmacy, which has been vacant for three years.
The pinball operation being proposed by Ty Ueda of Young Street, who is rated in the International Flipper Pinball Association, is in the works for the space most recently occupied by The UMM Shop.
A small business incubator staffed by town Planning Department personnel that had been proposed for that site was dropped after both the planner and planning assistant left for other jobs.
Eliot resident Cameron Mercier, who bought the former pharmacy building last year, plans to open Cut and Cards with his father, Paul. The six-chair barber shop will have a back office, according to the application.
The younger Mercier has an online trading card business and the two men are still working out details for the barber shop, according to his father, who addressed the board at the meeting.
The board voted unanimously April 22 to grant the Merciers’ request for a waiver of site plan review after reviewing the application and information from Code Enforcement Officer Alan Plummer. Board members still have questions about hours of operation, which Paul Mercier said might be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
A major site plan review typically is required when a “change of use” occurs at properties in either of the town’s two business zones. The Town Council amended the town’s zoning ordinance last year, however, to allow the Planning Board to waive specific submission requirements for applications if a use is determined to have similar levels of foot traffic, open hours, parking, and other impacts on the area.
The change was made to encourage new small businesses downtown and to let them avoid the cost of contracting engineers for the process, which generally costs thousands of dollars.
Pops Pinball will feature vintage pinball machines and possibly some vintage mechanical amusements like coin-operated fortune tellers. That application is on hold while Ueda, who grew up in Rollinsford, awaits a few more necessary documents. Ueda said he’s looking forward to opening the shop because his current work restoring pinball machines requires frequent travel.
Ueda is a videographer, audio engineer, and multimedia artist based in New Hampshire, according to his website.
Plummer and Kimberly DesRochers, deputy town clerk, are attending Planning Board meetings until a new town planner is hired. In the meantime, DeCarlo Brown, the town planner and economic development director until last week, continues to work remotely for South Berwick.
Unidentified hackers repeatedly disrupted the online component of the April 22 meeting, but all business on the agenda was completed.
