Tradewinds

What Tradewinds does

Tradewinds Markets is a privately held, family-owned grocery retail operator headquartered in Blue Hill, Maine, serving rural Maine communities. The company runs 13 locations across the state under three primary banners: Tradewinds Market, Tradewinds Market Plus, and Tradewinds Shop n Save. The Calais, Clinton, and Milo stores are owned and operated by individual families — Brandon and Janine Lawrence, Jay Gould and Family, and Amanda and Dave Butterfield, respectively — under the broader Tradewinds umbrella. In addition to grocery retail, select locations sell gasoline, and the company operates TW Storage, a self-service storage facility in Calais.

The business model is conventional physical retail: one-time grocery and fuel transactions with individual consumers, driven by weekly promotional flyers rather than disclosed subscription or digital pricing. The company layers community-focused programming on top of retail, including the Lawrence Family Fitness Center (a 13,000 sq/ft facility in Blue Hill with a competition pool, training equipment, and aerobics studio), the Pumped Up to Fight Cancer program (donating one penny per gallon of gasoline sold to cancer care at Eastern Maine Medical Center, having reached $1M+ in donations by December 2019), and the Made in Maine Partners local-supplier program.

There is no indication of institutional investment, public-market activity, mergers, acquisitions, or technology-platform ambitions. The company is actively hiring across multiple locations and uses Paylocity for recruitment (via Energy North Inc for Bangor-area positions). No revenue, headcount, or financial figures are disclosed; the company operates as a multi-store, multi-family Maine retail and community-services enterprise.

Name

Tradewinds

Legal name

Tradewinds Markets

Website

https://tradewindsmarkets.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tradewinds Markets is a family-owned, private grocery retail operator headquartered in Blue Hill, Maine, running 13 retail grocery and fuel locations across Maine under the Tradewinds Market, Market Plus, and Shop n Save banners, supplemented by community programs including a fitness center, a cancer-care donation initiative, and a self-service storage facility.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Grocery Stores

NAICS

Food and Beverage Retailers (445)

SIC

Retail-Food Stores (5400)

akta.pro primary industry

Hard Discount Grocery with Fuel / Forecourt-Integrated Sites (CRAEAIAI)

Keywords

• Retail grocery operations
• Fuel station sales
• Self-storage facilities
• Fitness center services
• Community wellness programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Blue Hill

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Grocery Sales: Revenue generated from physical retail grocery store operations selling food, household items, gasoline, and related products to consumers in Maine communities.

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Tradewinds Markets operates a network of retail grocery stores across Maine under three primary banners—Tradewinds Market, Tradewinds Market Plus, and Tradewinds Shop n Save—selling groceries, food and beverages, household items, and gasoline at 13 locations. The company also offers self-storage services through TW Storage in Calais and operates the Lawrence Family Fitness Center, a 13,000 sq/ft fitness facility in Blue Hill.

Product overview

Tradewinds Markets operates a network of retail grocery stores across Maine. The company operates three primary branded retail locations: Tradewinds Market Plus in Clinton (owned by Jay Gould and Family), Tradewinds Market in Milo (owned by Amanda and Dave Butterfield), and Tradewinds Shop n Save in Calais (owned by Brandon and Janine Lawrence). The company also offers TW Storage self-service storage in Calais. Tradewinds Markets also supports community wellness through the Lawrence Family Fitness Center in Blue Hill and the Pumped UP to Fight Cancer charity program. The business model centers on retail grocery operations with community-focused initiatives, and the company has expanded from its original Blue Hill location to now operate 13 locations across Maine.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tradewinds Market Plus Full-service retail grocery store in Clinton, Maine, owned by Jay Gould and Family, selling groceries, food and beverages, and household items to local Maine consumers.
• Tradewinds Market Retail grocery store in Milo, Maine, owned by Amanda and Dave Butterfield, offering groceries and fuel sales to local Maine consumers.
• Tradewinds Shop n Save Retail grocery and convenience store in Calais, Maine, owned by Brandon and Janine Lawrence, serving Maine consumers with groceries and household essentials.
• TW Storage Self-service storage facility located in Calais, Maine, operated by Tradewinds Markets for local consumers needing storage rental.
• Lawrence Family Fitness Center 13,000 sq/ft state-of-the-art fitness facility in Blue Hill, Maine, built by the Lawrence Family Foundation, featuring a six-lane 25-meter competition pool, fitness training equipment, and aerobics studio for community members.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Made in Maine PartnersminorOthersLocal Maine producers and vendors whose products are featured at Tradewinds locations. This program supports local Maine businesses and farmers by providing shelf space for locally made products.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Walmart: National grocery and general merchandise retailer operating stores across Maine. Comparable as a price-driven broad assortment competitor in the same Maine geography Tradewinds serves.
• Hannaford: Maine-headquartered supermarket chain operating across northern New England. Directly comparable as the largest in-state grocery incumbent competing with Tradewinds for the same Maine consumers.
• Shaw's: Albertsons-owned supermarket banner serving Maine and northern New England. Comparable as a competing full-service grocery banner active in Tradewinds' core markets.

Regional players

• Market Basket: Family-operated regional grocery chain across New England. Similar in privately-held family ownership and New England footprint, though much larger in store count.
• Price Chopper / Market 32: Regional grocery chain across the Northeast. Comparable as a multi-format regional grocer with fuel and grocery offerings in smaller markets similar to Tradewinds' Tradewinds Market format.
• Roche Bros. Family-owned regional supermarket operator in Massachusetts. Comparable as a family-led New England grocer competing for the same regional customer demographic.

Direct peers

• Gerrity's Supermarkets: Family-owned regional grocery chain in northeastern Pennsylvania. Highly comparable to Tradewinds in size (small-format multi-store), family-ownership structure, and community-centric operating model.

Others

• IGA: Global network and wholesale distributor for independent grocers. Comparable as an enabling/affiliation channel for independent regional grocery banners like Tradewinds Shop n Save.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tradewinds-marketplace

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tradewinds