BAR HARBOR — Before reality TV shows like “Downeast Dickering,” before “American Pickers,” even before eBay was even a glimmer in an antique dealer’s eye, there was Super’s Junkin Company.
For decades, the Town Hill establishment selling all things old and rusty has served artists, decorators, restaurateurs, tourists, summer residents and just about anyone else looking for something unique, antique or anything in between. But after this year, Super’s will be no more. Its owner is closing up shop.
Some 40 years ago, Michael “Super” Ross was just another shopkeeper downtown, manning his Super Sandals store on Main Street. But as he traveled back and forth buying material for his summertime shoes, he found himself collecting more and more old stuff, cool stuff and strange stuff from stops along the road.
Pretty soon it became apparent that he might just want to sell some of it even if only to make room for more. And in that way, Super’s Junkin Company was born. The place has been a Town Hill institution since then. Scores of people have poked through the dusty contents of its buildings looking for just the right treasure.
Super’s Junkin Company opened on Route 102 in Town Hill in 1974, “or something like that,” Ross said. Like much of his merchandise, the exact details are lost in time.
This year, the business is closing down. Ross is moving into partial retirement; he will be working out of a large warehouse in Stockton Springs, open mostly by appointment.
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Robert Levin
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