Originally posted by stevebrot
Edit: LIB...I just looked at their Web site and they say now that they started as a Mom & Pop photo store in Maine in 1979. First I heard of them (early 2000s), they were mail-order/Internet only out of Coney Island.
I grew up in Canarsie, a few miles from Coney Island AVENUE, and as far as I recall from the 70s, Abe's of Maine was NEVER in Maine. Their first store was in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. And the above quoted history of theirs is a big booba-meinser.
They're orthodox Jews, and the idea of the name was to make them appear "less Jewish."
Plus, who the hell moves from Maine to Brooklyn?