After 63 years in business, Ron Blake and his wife, Lisa Cote-Blake, will close Cote Bros. Sewing Machines next month unless a buyer comes through.

Ron Blake and Lisa Cote-Blake are closing Cote Bros. Sewing Machines after 63 years if they can’t find a buyer by May 9. Submitted photo

Lisa’s father and his brothers founded the business back in the day to serve the once-thriving shoe industry in Lewiston-Auburn.

The Blakes closed it once before, in 2008, selling the retail store, but the new business that took it over did not work out, and six months later, not wanting to leave his retail customers hanging, Ron Blake said they picked that end back up again, opening a shop in Turner.

They are closing for good, unless a buyer comes forward before a planned liquidation sale scheduled to begin May 9.

The retail business had five employees.

“It’s too bad because we had a very good year last year and sales are up 14% this year,” Blake said. “There’s still some very serious sewers out there where sewing is their passion, and some of them won’t hesitate to lay down $10,000 for a sewing machine.”

He said their biggest concern is it feels like they are abandoning the shop’s 13,000 customers.

Blake will continue to offer industrial sewing machine servicing on his own.

“I’m going to be 69 this year and it’s just become too much for me to do both,” he said.

This story was originally published April 8, 2019,  in “The Buzz: Auburn brothers are on the box, hiring as frozen seafood meals keep growing.” Have a Buzzable tip? Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or kskelton@sunjournal.com.