Popular Orono coffee shop completes its expansion to downtown Bangor
3 min read
A popular Orono coffee shop and eatery has opened a second location in downtown Bangor, nearly a year after the new spot was first announced.
Nest, which first opened on Main Street in Orono in 2016, quietly opened its new location last weekend at 25 State St. in downtown Bangor. It took more than a year for owners Li Yang and Anna Berube and manager Kate Anderson to renovate the space, which was formerly the home of Yankee Cobbler, a shoe repair business that closed after a devastating fire on Thanksgiving Day 2020.
Berube said it took quite a while to get the space ready to open, as contractors were really hard to find, and prices for lumber and other materials have also gone up considerably. The end result, however, is a bright, cozy cafe with lots of wood accents and comfortable seating.
“We ended up taking a lot of it into our own hands. I learned to tile, learned to build wood features, all kinds of stuff. Everything in there is custom-made,” Berube said. “It was definitely a learning experience, but with the way things are these days, you kind of have to do it yourself to get things done.”
While there are many similarities between the Orono and Bangor locations for Nest, Bangor has the advantage of being more than twice the size of the Orono location. It also has a full kitchen, which means Berube was able to expand the menu.
In addition to bakery items, made-to-order smoothies, breakfast sandwiches and burritos, acai bowls, avocado toasts and waffles, Nest Bangor will offer an array of quinoa bowls, topped with vegetarian, vegan and non-vegetarian items, including roasted eggplant and chickpea, chicken pesto, edamame and peanuts, and a coconut curry chickpea and cauliflower.
“That’s the thing we’re most excited about — offering the quinoa bowls and bringing some more healthy and vegan options to downtown Bangor,” Anderson said.
Sandwiches and salads will be added to the menu in the coming months, and over the winter, Berube plans to get a liquor license so they can offer mimosas on the weekends.
Coffee is, of course, the other primary focus, and a full espresso bar will offer the usual brewed coffee, cold brew, cappuccinos and lattes as well as cortados, flat whites and affogatos.
25 State St. is part of a property purchased earlier this year by a development group led by Dash Davidson, a developer who also owns downtown buildings at 2 Hammond St. and 33 Exchange St.
In June of this year, the group told around 20 tenants in the upper floors of adjacent 27 State St. that they would need to leave their spaces by July 31 so the company could begin extensive renovations on the building. Nest was already in the midst of renovating its space, and was not asked to leave.
Nest will be open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.
