Wild Oats Bakery and Café, the popular downtown Brunswick eatery, opened a second location last week in the Brunswick Landing business district on the site of the former Naval Air Station Brunswick. The new cafe is serving a full range of breakfast and lunch items in the renovated space.
“The process was long and arduous,” owner Becky Shepherd said. “But worth the effort. It’s a beautiful space. It’s really peaceful out here with all the open space.”
Brunswick Landing is a commercial and industrial campus managed by the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. It is currently home to a handful of manufacturing and technology companies, as well as Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) and multiple other schools.
“Lunch has been really busy,” said Shepherd. “Our clients are a really mixed bag: people from Harpswell, we’ve had people from SMCC, and we have schools on all sides of us. There’s a lot of industry around us too.”
Many people have already begun to enjoy spending time in the dining area of the new restaurant, which is located off of a connecting road between large office buildings.
“Every day has been better and better,” said server Kelly Remington. “I think the community itself is just coming over and welcoming us, which is nice.”
Nearby residents noted that Wild Oats is a welcome addition to existing food options in Brunswick Landing.
“We live on the base, so we’ve been waiting for this to open up,” said Angela Hughes of Brunswick. “Obviously we can go out to Cook’s Corner and find something there, but nothing as good as Wild Oats.”
According to Shepherd, Bowdoin students and staff have yet to venture to the new location in significant numbers.
She estimates that “a couple handfuls of people” from the College have stopped in so far, although Shepherd hopes that an expanded smoothie bar and a new line of fresh fruit juices will increase the new restaurant’s customer base.
“I actually haven’t been out there yet, but I plan to make a few appearances,” said Torey Lee ’15.
The original Tontine Mall location is already immensely popular with Bowdoin students. Admissions recommends it to visitors as the best place to get lunch in town. It will recieve its own improvement —additional seating outside—in the spring.