Between the Tides
- Brick + Tides
- Jun 17
- 6 min read
Forty years ago, Linda McLaughlin received a collect call about a man she had never met.
Actually, she received a collect call about two men.
Neither of them was coming home.
It was the mid-1980s, before cell phones, text messages, or any easy way to explain that everything was fine. Linda's husband and another man from their Rotary Club had gone ice fishing in New Hampshire. At some point, the two fishermen decided driving home was not a good idea. They would spend the night in their ice-fishing shanty and head home the next day.
One wife got the message.
The other did not.
The second call was answered by an elderly mother-in-law who refused to accept the collect charges.
So Linda was asked to do something unusual.
Find the other wife.
"My husband said, 'Can you get in touch with his wife?'" Linda recalled recently with a laugh. "And I said, 'What's his wife's name?'"
The woman's name was Maureen Massey.
The two had never met.
Linda had the phone number, made the call, and introduced herself to a complete stranger. Their husbands were safe, she explained. They simply weren't coming home that night.
Then she extended an invitation.
Would you like to come over for a glass of wine?
The husbands came home the next day.
Linda McLaughlin and Maureen Massey never went their separate ways.
On a bright June morning in Biddeford Pool, nearly forty years later, that friendship remains very much intact.
Outside Between the Tides, kayakers paddled toward Stage Island beneath sunny skies and temperatures approaching 80 degrees. Cars moved steadily along Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard, more traffic than the village had seen a few weeks earlier and one of the surest signs that summer was arriving. A few doors down, visitors lined up for lobster rolls. Boats drifted in and out of the harbor. Another season was beginning.
Inside the shop, McLaughlin and Massey greeted customers the same way they have since opening Between the Tides for its first season in 2010.
The store is small—just 600 square feet—but every inch is carefully considered. Coastal artwork hangs from the walls. Handcrafted jewelry catches the light. Shelves hold candles, ornaments, puzzles, children's books, pottery, home décor, and gifts inspired by the beaches, harbors, and neighborhoods that make this corner of southern Maine unique.
For many visitors, the shop feels like part of summer itself.
The business, however, came long after the friendship.
Over four decades, McLaughlin and Massey raised children, celebrated milestones, navigated life's challenges, and remained close friends. At one point they started a jewelry business together, donating proceeds to David's House at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, an organization that had helped both families during difficult moments involving newborn grandchildren and children requiring specialized care.
Years later, another opportunity appeared.
The owner of a longtime gift shop in Biddeford Pool was ready to move on and asked whether the two friends might be interested in taking over the space.
Their first answer was no.
"We had no idea what we were getting into," Massey said.
Neither woman was actively looking for another business. They had already operated one. They had families and plenty of other interests. But the opportunity lingered.
"If we didn't take it over then," Massey said, "there would never be an opportunity."
So they said yes.
Sixteen seasons later, they're still here.
The store has evolved over the years, but the philosophy has remained remarkably consistent.
"We want to be the quintessential little beach store," McLaughlin said.
That sentence may explain Between the Tides better than any marketing plan ever could.
This is not a souvenir shop filled with generic Maine merchandise. The store leans coastal, local, and personal. The color palette mirrors the ocean outside the front door. Blues, greens, whites, and weathered nautical tones dominate the displays. Merchandise is selected carefully, often after lengthy discussions between the two owners.
Throughout the offseason, they hold regular FaceTime meetings while living hundreds of miles apart. Massey spends winters in Florida. McLaughlin divides her time between New Hampshire and Maine. Together, they research vendors, visit coastal communities, browse showrooms, and conduct what they jokingly call reconnaissance missions.
Sometimes a product catches Massey's eye in Florida. Other times McLaughlin discovers something while traveling through New England. The question is always the same.
Does it belong here?
Not every item does.
"We really are coastal nautical," McLaughlin said. "That's our theme."
That commitment extends beyond merchandise and into the identity of the community itself.
One of the shop's most popular categories features place names familiar to locals but often unknown to visitors: Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks, Hills Beach, and Granite Point.
To outsiders, the distinctions may seem minor.
To locals, they matter a great deal.
"If you live at Hills Beach, you want Hills Beach," McLaughlin said. "If you live at Fortunes Rocks, you want Fortunes Rocks."
The comment drew immediate agreement from Massey.
The same loyalty appears year after year as seasonal residents return to the area and make their annual visit to the shop. Some customers have been stopping in for years. Others discovered the store on vacation and now make it a regular part of their summer routine.
Many arrive before even heading to the beach.
Others return several times during a single stay.
The women have watched children grow up, families return across generations, and visitors transform into neighbors.
They've also quietly helped launch a few local businesses along the way.
Artists, potters, authors, and makers regularly approach the shop hoping to place products on consignment. One local author left copies of his novel, unsure whether anyone would be interested. The books sold so quickly that McLaughlin found herself calling for additional copies almost every week. Another maker began selling puzzles through the shop before eventually expanding into stores throughout southern Maine.
Stories like those are part of what keeps the work enjoyable.
"When it doesn't become fun anymore, then we won't do it," McLaughlin said.
For now, it still feels fun.
The same can be said for the students who help run the store each season. Between the Tides has become an unlikely first job for generations of local high school and college students. Many stay for years, returning summer after summer while earning degrees, completing internships, and building careers.
Some remained through graduate school. One employee stayed for seven seasons. The arrangement works because trust is built into the culture of the shop.
"They run the show pretty much," Massey said.
The students greet customers, manage inventory, answer questions, and often become familiar faces for returning visitors. By the end of a season, many customers know them by name.
That sense of continuity feels increasingly rare.
So does the decision to remain intentionally small.
In an era when nearly everything can be purchased online, Between the Tides has resisted the temptation to become an e-commerce operation. The shop maintains a website and social media presence, but customers cannot browse endless inventory from their couches.
That is entirely intentional. The women want people to visit.
They want customers to walk through the door, pick up a mug, examine a piece of pottery, smell a candle, or discover something unexpected.
They want the experience to remain personal. In many ways, that philosophy mirrors Biddeford Pool itself.
The village has changed dramatically during the past two decades. Property values have soared. Larger homes have replaced smaller ones. More visitors discover the area every year. The secret, as locals often say, is no longer much of a secret.
Yet some things remain remarkably familiar.
The harbor still fills with boats. Wood Island still stands offshore. Families still gather on the beach. And each summer, Between the Tides opens for another season.
For nearly forty years, the friendship behind it has occupied something much larger.
All because of an ice-fishing trip, a collect call, and an invitation to share a glass of wine.
The men eventually made it home.
Linda McLaughlin and Maureen Massey never really went their separate ways.
Many thanks to Maureen Massey and Linda McLaughlin for their time on Tuesday, June 9 at their 1 Lester B Orcutt Boulevard location in Biddeford Pool, Maine.
Visit them online for more info - https://betweenthetidesgifts.com
