Kittery Trading Post
301 US Route 1
Kittery, ME
A roadside trading post that grew from a Depression-era stand into a cavernous outdoor emporium, the first great Maine stop for anyone crossing the bridge from New Hampshire.
Kittery Trading Post is a Maine institution, a sprawling outdoor outfitter on Route 1 that has been the state's welcome mat for road trippers crossing up from New Hampshire since before the highway carried much traffic at all. Inside, multiple levels are stocked with hunting, fishing, camping, paddling, and clothing gear, set among wood beams and taxidermy that give the place the feel of a giant north-woods lodge.
What makes it a landmark is its longevity and its scale. It began as a small roadside stand in 1938 and grew, decade by decade, into one of the best-known independent outdoor retailers in northern New England, a store people plan a stop around rather than simply pass on the way to somewhere else.
What Guests Love
- A genuinely huge store where you can outfit an entire hunting, fishing, or camping trip under one roof
- The multi-level layout with taxidermy mounts and a mountain-lodge feel
- A deep selection of gear that ranges from serious backcountry equipment to everyday footwear
- Its role as the classic first-or-last stop on a Maine road trip along Route 1
Worth Knowing
- It sits in Kittery's outlet district, so parking and traffic get busy on summer and holiday weekends
- The store is large and multi-level; give yourself more time than you expect
- It is a destination retailer rather than a museum, though the displays and setting reward a wander
- Route 1 here is an alternative to the interstate, an easy detour worth taking
Details
Kittery, ME
Learn about Kittery Trading Post
From a roadside stand to a landmark
The Kittery Trading Post opened in 1938 as a modest stand selling to travelers on Route 1, then the main coastal road into Maine before the interstate existed. In those years every car heading up the coast passed directly by the door.
Over the following decades the business expanded again and again, adding floor space and departments until it became the cavernous store travelers know today. It stayed independent and locally run while many roadside businesses of its era vanished, outlasting the shift of through traffic onto the Maine Turnpike.
Its survival says something about the pull of the destination store. Even after the interstate drew off the fast traffic, people kept choosing the Route 1 exit to stop here, and the Trading Post became a fixed point in the southern Maine landscape, the place where a coastal road trip officially begins.
What you find inside
The store is organized around the outdoor life: firearms and hunting supplies, rods and tackle for fresh and salt water, tents and packs and camp stoves, kayaks and canoes, and floor after floor of boots, flannel, and technical clothing for the Maine climate.
The setting is part of the appeal. Wood beams, stone, and mounted animals turn a big-box footprint into something closer to a hunting lodge, and long-time visitors treat the mounts and displays as landmarks in their own right.
It functions as a practical resource as much as a shopping trip. For someone heading north to the lakes, the mountains, or the Allagash, it is a logical place to fill any gaps in their gear before the towns get small and far apart.
The Kittery gateway
Kittery has been a gateway for a long time. It is Maine's oldest incorporated town, settled in the 1600s, and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on its islands has built and serviced Navy vessels since 1800, an active submarine yard to this day.
The land and waters here are part of the homeland of the Wabanaki peoples, whose presence along the Piscataqua and the southern Maine coast long predates the colonial town.
Today the Route 1 strip through Kittery is best known for its outlet stores, but the Trading Post predates that shopping district and anchors it, a reminder that this stretch of highway was drawing travelers to stop long before the outlets arrived.
Beyond the store
Kittery rewards travelers who linger past the shopping. The town's islands and points hold historic coastal forts, quiet parks, and working waterfront, and back roads lead to lobster shacks and river views away from the Route 1 bustle.
As Maine's first town, reached the moment you cross the Piscataqua from New Hampshire, Kittery marks the true start of the Maine coast. The Trading Post makes a fitting first or last stop, the place to gear up on the way north or grab one more Maine keepsake on the way home.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Kittery
Fort McClary
About 4 miles, a 10 minute drive
A historic coastal fort with a distinctive hexagonal blockhouse guarding the mouth of the Piscataqua River, with picnic grounds and water views.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
About 3 miles, a 10 minute drive
A walkable colonial seaport just across the river, with a lively downtown, waterfront, and the Strawbery Banke living-history museum.
York and Nubble Light
About 10 miles, a 20 minute drive
A classic Maine beach town home to the much-photographed Cape Neddick Nubble Lighthouse on its rocky islet.