BELFAST — Katherine Loblein and John Gibbs are co-owners of Katwalk, 104 Main Street in Belfast. Katwalk opened its doors in December of 2011. The unique store carries lines of high end designer jeans, Monroe Salt Works pottery, Vera Bradley and a line of Maine made clothing by FX Dressed out of Orono.

“It’s geared toward a younger crowd,” said Katherine. “Mostly because I buy what I like in fashion, but it draws all age groups, teenagers to seniors. We just had our third summer here. Summers and Christmas are great.”

“The winter has been better than we anticipated,” said John. “It’s slow, but not where we want to take a break.”

John is from Monroe and Katherine is from Belfast. She graduated with the Class of 1999 from Belfast High School. 

“I like being in Belfast.” said Katherine. “There are no empty storefronts and the Front Street Boat Yard is a real asset to the city.”

“Anytime I need something for the store,” said John. “I can walk and get it. Five years ago you couldn’t get anything close.”

“Everyone in the downtown area works together when we do sales and radio ads,” said Katherine. “We all work together on promotion, it all comes together. It’s not competition. We all do a great job of not carrying the same items, so we can send someone to another store so they can get what they want. It’s just great. I think Belfast is awesome, I’m a lifer.”