Higgins Antiques in Southwest Harbor

Dec 2

Walk into Higgins Antiques in Southwest Harbor and you feel the difference immediately. The shelves are organized, the glass gleams, and every corner holds something unexpected. “I hate disorganization,” says co-owner Linda Higgins. “My brain gets tired if I go in a place and it’s jumbled.” That instinct has shaped the store for more than fifty years.

Linda and her husband, Edward, began their business in the early 1970s after Ed was laid up with back surgery. “We had twin boys who were little, and he taught himself refinishing. We held yard sales to pay the mortgage, and it just grew from there.” The couple ran the business under the name Antique Wicker for decades, eventually becoming the largest antique wicker dealers in New England. “All the big summer homes had antique wicker,” she says. “We used to ship to interior designers everywhere.”

But tastes changed, shipping got complicated, and wicker began losing ground. Vacationers wanted items they could pack into a suitcase. Designers began looking elsewhere. “We still have several hundred pieces, but Ed does not want to repair and ship wicker anymore,” Linda says. So they returned to their roots in antiques and shifted the business toward what today’s customers actually come looking for: buoys, cast iron, Pyrex, books, vintage glassware, pottery, maps, license plates, and the odd treasure they never see coming.

Much of their inventory comes from what Linda calls “good, bad, and ugly” cleanouts. Families clearing out a house call the Higginses, who buy what they want and remove the rest. “Usually what the kids have thrown in the dumpster is what you want,” Linda says. “Maps, medals, papers, history. They have no concept.” One of the most surprising sales this year was a vintage New York Times newspaper bench that traveled from Manhattan to Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor and back to Manhattan after a young couple spotted it upstairs.

Their buoy wall outside the shop has become an island landmark, often used as a wedding photo backdrop. “It is what you are supposed to have around here,” Linda says. “People take pictures of it every day.”

For Linda and Edward, the business is as much about conversation as it is about antiques. They help visitors find the right museum, the right trail, the right rainy-day activity. “We just try to be friendly,” Linda says. “It is a novelty in 2025.”

FAMOUS FOR:
Their buoy wall, their constantly changing mix of Maine-found treasures, and their impeccably organized selection of Pyrex, pottery, vintage buoys, maps, typewriters, and cast iron.

ADDRESS:
124 Main St, Southwest Harbor, ME