Local Spotlight: Lisa Kidd

For those in the know in Ocean Park, a day at the seashore often starts with a cup of coffee paired with a cinnamon bun from Ocean Park Subs and Groceries.

There are plenty of places to get cinnamon buns, but the store just a block away from the beach is the only one that serves up cinnamon rolls like Grandma used to make.

If it’s summer, then Ocean Park Subs and Groceries will be bakin’ and shakin’ as it has for 24 years.

We tracked down proprietor Lisa Kidd at the three businesses she runs on Seaside Avenue, just across from the Ocean Park Soda Fountain and the Ocean Park Memorial Library, a setting that generations of Ocean Park faithful know well.

Next door to the sub and grocery shop is Kidd’s Beachside Books and Bowls, opened two years ago, where you can pick up a beach read including novels, history and children’s books as well as order an Acai bowl to make you feel even better about that new bathing suit you’re sporting.

And the next door down is yet a third Kidd-operated business, Cottage Designs, a gift shop with everything you could hope for to thank the dog-sitters or house-sitters or whoever back home  deserves a gift from Maine.

Kidd and her wife, Deb Dolan, oversee an operation that caters to many interests and tastes and serves as a notable employer for local youth.

“I employ 29 kids,” said Kidd, “I have amazing kids that I love.”

Some of those young people have been pulling down a summer paycheck from one or more of her businesses for several years. Some employees are in Old Orchard Beach for the summer with their families, while at least one local teacher has traded the classroom for a summer of subs, baked goods and groceries for the last nine years.

Kidd speaks of her workforce with pride.

“I haven’t trained a kid in 10 or twelve years,” she said as several youthful employees tended to business. New workers start and are immediately taken under the wing of the veterans, shown the ropes and the shared expectations. Smiles and helpful attitudes were immediately obvious.

A sub shop was not in Kidd’s plans thirty years ago. While she’s been an Old Orchard Beach resident for 35 years, a life-changing incident served as a reminder that we rarely know what the future holds.

“At 33 I lost my husband in a construction accident,” she said. “When I bought the sub shop (prior to that tragedy), my kids were little: the youngest was one, and oldest was 14.”

Growing up with the sub shop and a busy mom has perhaps rubbed off on her children: son Gabe partners with others who own and operate Café 64 on Old Orchard Street in Old Orchard Beach (yes, they sell cinnamon rolls). One daughter lives on a farm in St. Albans with her husband and children – Kidd has six grandchildren – while another is pursuing a PhD at Notre Dame. Her daughter Emily worked along side her when she first opened the store and now works at Unum and lives in Old Orchard Beach with her two daughters. 

Two Newfoundland dogs complete the immediate family: Nola, a 9-year-old rescue, and Winnie, a 2-year-old that tips the scales at 150 pounds.

As we talk, an employee appears at her side and delivers a bottled water. A minute later the phone rings; it’s a food supplier. “I need frozen raspberries, eggs, green peppers, gluten-free bread and a case of tuna,” she rattles off. “And juice boxes!”

Back to those cinnamon rolls: Kidd developed the recipe herself, and no, she won’t share. It is the biggest seller in the sub shop, which of course features a display case of an array of baked goods. The record for a single day’s sales: 1,266 cinnamon rolls sold. Employees plan on selling around 1,000 over a given weekend. Second biggest seller: muffins, of which blueberry and blueberry-raspberry are the most popular.

While the pace of meeting customers’ needs falls short of frantic on a weekday morning in May, it’s obvious there’s little standing around on the part of employees.

“We have a six-week period to make our money,” Kidd said, and rainy weekends are not a help.

How was business last summer? “Canadians absolutely did not come last year.”

“I try and say ‘don’t worry’ twice, and leave it at that,” she adds.

While we chat in the bookstore two young adults wrap up their browsing and head to the cash register. It turns out that Christina and David are sixth grade teachers accompanying a group of elementary school students visiting Maine from Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.

“Shelburne Falls! That’s where I grew up,” said Kidd, and the three compare notes as she rings up their purchases.

She is obviously busy, and I’ve gotten my story. After perusing some book titles and strolling through the gift shop, I drop back in to the sub shop/bakery for couple of cinnamon rolls; there is a young father and two daughters ahead of me.

“Any cinnamon rolls today?” he asks Deb who is running the cash register. “We just sold out” is the reply, and I’m sure dad can’t be any more crestfallen than I.

Get there early! Ocean Park Subs and Groceries is open during the summer from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Bob Hamblen is a freelance writer from Saco. He can be reached at rhh0918@gmail.com.

Editor's note: this was edited on 6/9/26 to add that Kidd has a daughter who lives in Old Orchard Beach.