There was a sign on the door of Sam's Italian Foods on Main Street in Lewiston that took them by surprise.

The Sam's location on Main Street has been there for 83 years, originally opening in 1939 to huge success. By 1982 they added a second store in Auburn and which grew to multiple locations across Lewiston/Auburn and Western Maine. Today there are 12 locations across Maine, one less now that the original Sam's appears to be permanently closed.

The sign on the door that many have posted on Facebook reads, "Sorry. We are closed. Thank you for 83 great years at Downtown Main St!" It then lists five other locations nearby you can visit.

There doesn't seem to be any word on why the original and historic Sam's closed, but when we called them to verify this was real, there was no answer, and when you try to order online it says they are closed, so we assume this is legit.

We can only speculate on the reason for the closure. Possibly business downtown was trending down as often is the case for many cities' downtown areas in the 21st century. The Main Street location hours were already limited according to Google, with the restaurant only open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A lot of their business likely came from Central Maine Medical Center just up the street.

Whatever the reason is, it will be sad to see the location where it all started closing permanently. The Sam's sign is a piece of history and a landmark in downtown Lewiston. I hope that it can stay no matter what happens to the space. Main Street won't be the same without it.

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