FARMINGTON – Downtown’s longtime health food store changed hands this week as previous owners Wally and Becky Sumner retired after managing the store for the last 20 years.
The Better Living Center, founded in 1973 by Dave and Betty McCormachie, was bought by the Sumners in 2000. Wally had been recruited as a manager by the McCormachies in 1990, and knew the ins and outs of running the business. Just as avoiding preservatives was a natural choice for the store, so was the idea of Wally becoming owner. When he began to seriously consider retirement, he knew he wanted to find someone who was just as natural of a fit as he had been. So he tracked down Wayne Drake.
“I was just a farm kid. I didn’t even know I was good at all this until Wally gave me the opportunity,” Drake said.
Drake was originally hired by Betty, and under Wally’s guidance he quickly became a staple employee, keeping books and handling pay roll. He went on to work in banking for 12 years before deciding to sign up for the Police Academy. Drake has been working at the University of Maine at Farmington since 2018 as Assistant Director of Public Safety. The two schedules work well together, he said. Plus, the staff knows the ropes.
“I’m proud to say that every employee that was here is going to continue,” he said. “It will be the same faces that everyone is used to seeing.”
Drake said customers are all wondering about the same two things: is he going to start carrying meat, sugar and caffeine; and will he extend hours to be open on Saturdays.
“It’s tough because it’s been established this way for the last 47 years. But there is such thing as good change,” he said.
The changes will be gradual, and will all be done with customer feedback, he said; but Drake does intend to add a wider variety of products, including organic meats, sweet treats and caffeine.
“The emphasis will always be on local,” he said.
None of the products that the store currently carries will be discontinued, he said, so longtime customers can still expect to find the same offerings. Drake said he also plans to increase the BLC’s presence on social media and will be doing more promotional events such as giveaways and contests.
“I’ve been playing store since I was a kid. This has been one of my dreams for a long time,” he said.
Drake and his family – including five children and step-children – will hopefully be moving to the Farmington area from Auburn soon, and Drake said he looks forward to giving his kids and step-kids the same opportunity to find out what they are good at in the business world.
“It’s definitely going to be a family enterprise,” he said.
