Andy's Handy Store

In 1807, a nail mill stood at the corner of Main Street and what was then known as Mill Street (prior to the construction of today's Mill Street, located near to where the Forest Paper Company formerly stood).[1]

The building was later the home of the hardware store of John Ambrose Griffin (1838–1905).[2][3]

In 1891, Nathaniel Foster's pottery was torn down, after about fifty years in existence, and a new building was constructed in its place.[1]

The building prior to its expansion to the west in 1947

Between 1906 and 1935, Arthur and Harry Storer's hardware store, Storer Bros., occupied the premises,[1] which included a bakery run by Freeland A. Knight.[4] Other early owners included Lester and Orland Blake.[4]

In 1935, the property became Andy's Handy Store – named for proprietor, Leland "Andy" Anderson. A 31-year-old Anderson later combined the two wooden buildings of Griffin's and an adjacent grocery store (which sold produce "at Portland prices").[2]

When Yarmouth's post office moved from the Brickyard Hollow section of Main Street in the late 1990s, the then owners of Handy's, Glenn and Susan McAllister, signed a contract to provide postal services at their store. This "auxiliary mail station" status was removed in 2013, except for the sale of stamps.[5]

It became occupied by OTTO Pizza in 2014,[6] then a grocery store and café, called The Nook,[7] with the building known collectively as Handy's.

Thoroughfare has occupied the entire building since early 2022. The Hayes family, who also own Yarmouth's The Garrison restaurant and Dandelion Catering, named it Dandy's Handy Store[8] (word play on the name of the latter business) prior to converting the premises to its current format.[9]