When Sumner and Pam Price Richards moved to Damariscotta in 1985, they had no clue that they would be starting a business that would survive for 25 years.

"I had an idea to open up an old-fashioned country store," said Richards who, with his family, friends and former regulars, celebrated Fernald’s Country Store’s quarter century mark on Saturday, June 27.

Richards was fascinated with the country stores of his youth in Acton, Massachusetts. Images of the classic soda fountain, penny candy jars, and dime store merchandise stuck with him. He wanted the store to be typical of Main Street New England, symbolic of small town life that he felt was disappearing with the advent of big box stores.

The couple was lucky that one of Damariscotta’s long-time downtown pharmacies owned by Arnold Briggs was in the process of closing. In 1990, Richards signed a lease and the couple was in business.

Gradually, the sandwich side of the store became the main feature, with a regular clientèle that asked for particular condiments. Richards decided to name sandwiches after them: the “Skidompha” after the town librarian and “Help me Rhonda” after a local potter, to name a few.

"We started out with a dozen sandwiches and now I have about 60," he said.

In 1997, after his divorce, Richards bought the former five and dime on Friendship Street in Waldoboro. For the new store, Richards retained many of the features of the five and dime adding the sandwich service and soda fountain from the Damariscotta store. 

For a time, Pam ran the Damariscotta Fernald’s but eventually turned it back to Sumner. That location closed when the lease expired. 

Richards concedes that the running the Waldoboro store by himself was a challenge.

"I am still part of the Waldoboro community," he said. He admits that business was slow. Most of his customers were a small cadre of loyal regulars since there was scant tourist traffic in Waldoboro.

In 2009, Richards became aware that a deli business on Main Street in Damariscotta, the former office of the Lincoln County Weekly, had closed its doors. He approached the landlord, attorney Clayton Howard, who seemed interested in allowing Richards to open at its current location just over the Newcastle/Damariscotta bridge.

"He was encouraging,” Richards said. The store opened that year and has gained a strong following ever since. “The town has grown since we first opened," Richards said.

Richard 's son, Rick, now 27, works full-time along with Pam, the original partner. Their other son, Josh, who had been a mere "twinkle in our eye” when the couple first opened, has also worked there part-time.

"Rick has expressed interest in taking over when I retire," Richards said.

Richards is not sure who thought of the idea of celebrating the store's 25th anniversary, but the concept gained momentum to include an afternoon jam session and a pork roast in the parking lot. It drew about 40 Richards and Price family members from throughout New England as well as many former customers.

"It seemed like a real benchmark," Richards said.