Hub Furniture
291 Fore Street, Portland, ME
You see that big old brick building on Fore Street? The one that looks more like a warehouse than a fancy furniture store? That’s Hub Furniture. And if these walls could talk—oy—they’d never stop.
Now, people sometimes remember the building because it once housed one of America’s earliest chewing gum factories. That’s certainly a fun piece of Portland history. But the Jewish story begins in 1913, when two young Jewish immigrants, Sam Novick and Max Simonds, opened a small furniture store on Congress Street.
They came from the very same village in what is now Belarus, and like so many Jewish immigrants, they arrived with more courage than money. Before there was a store, Sam delivered tea around Portland from a horse-drawn wagon. Every customer, every handshake, every sale—it all mattered. That’s how you built a life in America.
Now listen carefully, because this is the important part. They didn’t build Hub Furniture by trying to get rich overnight. They built it one family at a time. A newly married couple needed a dining table? Hub helped them. A family welcoming their first baby needed a crib? Hub helped them. Someone finally saved enough to buy their first real sofa after years of hand-me-downs? You guessed it—Hub helped them.
Furniture isn’t just furniture. It’s where babies take their first steps. It’s where families gather for Friday night dinner. It’s where grandchildren curl up beside their grandparents to hear stories.
Then came the hard times. The Great Depression. Two world wars. Urban renewal that bulldozed entire neighborhoods. Twice, the store had to move because the city changed around it. Smaller businesses might have closed their doors. But not Hub. The Novicks simply packed up, found another home, and kept serving Portland.
Eventually, they settled into that enormous old building on Fore Street, where they could store furniture in the warehouse and sell it directly to customers without all the fancy showroom prices. They called it “warehouse pricing.” We just called it a good deal.
And here’s why everyone respected the Novicks. Success never made them forget where they came from.
For generations, if someone in Portland needed help after a fire, was starting over with nothing, or simply needed a hand, chances are the Novicks quietly showed up. They helped furnish apartments for families rebuilding their lives, supported organizations like Preble Street, United Way, and the Jewish Community Alliance, and gave generously without asking for recognition.
They understood something our tradition has always taught: when your community needs you, you show up.
You know, that’s what I love most about this story. Hub Furniture isn’t famous because it sold couches. It’s famous because it proved that a family business could survive for generations by treating customers like neighbors and neighbors like family.
Today, more than 110 years after that little furniture store first opened its doors, Sam and Bette Novick still carry the story forward. Four generations of the Novick family have welcomed people through those doors, helping furnish thousands of Maine homes with tables where holiday meals were shared, beds where babies slept, and rocking chairs where grandparents bounced their grandchildren.
And Sam and Bette? They are still there. Still welcoming customers. Still giving back. Still proving that the values that built Hub Furniture—honesty, hard work, generosity, and care for community—are not old-fashioned at all. They’re exactly what keeps a business, and a family legacy, alive.
So the next time someone says, “It’s just a furniture store,” you smile. Because you know better.
It’s a story about immigrants.
It’s a story about family.
It’s a story about generosity.
It’s a story about a business that never stopped treating customers like neighbors.
And if you ask us, that’s the strongest foundation any home—or any community—could ever have.
