The owners of a popular downtown Ellsworth cafe are selling their shop to an employee who vows to preserve its character, menu and role as one of the city’s top “third spaces.”
Flexit Cafe, located at the center of Ellsworth’s downtown on Main Street, has been owned by Paul Markosian and Lorena Stearns since March 2015. The couple is selling the cafe to 24-year-old local Saylor DesJardin, who has worked on and off at Flexit since 2021. The sale will be official later this month, Markosian said.
DesJardin, a graduate of Sumner Memorial High School, will retain the cafe’s most cherished details: the brightly colored walls decorated with a rotating display of local art, the sandwiches named after local features – like “The Grand” Grinder, Harbor Park Bánh Mi and Downeast Cubano — and the idea that the cafe is a “third space,” providing WiFi and tables to acquaintances and colleagues, hobbyists and researchers, and college students, as DesJardin once was.
“When I was in college, I used to come here every Saturday,” she said. “I would get a cup of coffee and hash brown bites and just sit here for hours and do my homework. Paul never kicked me out, never told me I wasn’t allowed to take up a whole table. That’s something I really want to offer.”
She does, however, plan on one major addition: DesJardin will add homemade bagels, which she’s been baking out of her home since the pandemic, to the cafe’s menu. She specializes in seasonal flavors, like autumn’s pumpkin chocolate chip bagel and springtime’s raspberry white chocolate bagel.
Markosian and Stearns opened Flexit in 2015 in the Maine Grind Building, a former Masonic lodge now set to become a dentist’s office. They moved operations to their current location in 2022.
Markosian, a member of Ellsworth’s School Board and longtime local business owner, plans to retire while still helping DesJardin with catering related needs, he said. His newfound free time will revolve around bikes, books and his 20-month-old grandson, Markosian said.
Flexit was designed to serve as a “third space” for Ellsworth community members, Markosian said. The cafe now holds weekly meetings for a diverse range of groups: ham radio operators, Mahjong enthusiasts, gardening lovers and senior citizens all share Flexit space.
Markosian and Stearns also previously owned Flexit’s neighbor Finn’s Irish Pub, which was closed in 2022 after 13 years in operation. It later opened back up under new ownership in June 2023.
All of Flexit’s dozen or so employees will remain on staff, DesJardin said.