BIDDEFORD — For a number of years, Michael Macomber has harbored the desire to leave his job in academia and open a combination coffee shop/bookstore.

Meanwhile, David and Bekah Clark have worked for several years on their wood carving and furniture business and were trying to figure out how they could expand; and for most of her adult life, Jennifer Thibeau has wanted to own and run a cafe.

Thanks to a competition offered by the City of Biddeford and the downtown revitalization organization Heart of Biddeford, these entrepreneurs have found a way to make their dreams come true.

Earlier this year, the city authorized the Main Street Challenge competition as a way to fill some of the downtown’s vacant storefronts.

While there is about a 70 percent occupancy rate in the downtown, said Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson, there is a perception, which is greater than the reality, that there are many store front vacancies.

In creating the competition, his department, HOB and the Biddeford-Saco Area Economic Development Council used a methodical and strategic approach to address the problem, he said.

“We’re addressing the perception and reality” of Main Street storefront vacancies, and at the same time “encouraging entrepreneurism,” said Stevenson.

In June, after beating out 24 other competitors, Macomber, the Clarks and Thibeau ”“ with her fiancée Wesley Rhames, son of City Councilor Richard Rhames ”“ were chosen as winners of the Main Street Challenge.

The challenge winners received a host of services, including a $10,000 forgivable loan from a special city fund, authorized by the city council, and six months free rent from various downtown property owners.

These awards gave the new and expanding businesses the boost they needed to open retail shops.

Rhames’ and Thibeau’s vegetarian restaurant, Dahlia’s Delights, and the Clark’s store, Tote Road, where they’ll sell their handcrafted wood carvings, will both open next week.

Macomber said he’s had construction delays, but he plans to open in January. His shop, Elements, will feature pour-over-style, hand-crafted coffee and books, music and events ”“ and if he gets a liquor license, beer and wine.

In choosing the challenge winners, said HOB Executive Director Delilah Poupore, the selection committee chose those with strong business plans as well as businesses they thought could be sustainable and bring more foot traffic to Main Street. This would benefit the new and existing downtown businesses, she said.

In addition, said Poupore, committee members also assessed the applicants’ personal styles. She said they looked for people who “would create a welcoming feeling in the downtown,” and effuse an atmosphere that “this was a great place to be.”

All the winners fit the bill in that department, said Poupore.

The Clarks said they began their business in 2010, a year before they were married.

David Clark, who now carves items like shorebirds, bowls, wooden shelves and cribbage boards, got his start when he was around 10, after receiving a small carving instrument as a Christmas present. But until the couple started the business, he only made about one item a year.

Bekah Clark said her husband proposed the idea over the phone while he was away at graduate school.

“I said ”˜I love it.’ At that point, I didn’t know much about his carving ability,” she recalled.

After being in business for two years, the couple was looking for a way to expand. Winning the competition gave them that opportunity, they said.

Like the two other competition winners, Macomber notes his coffee shop is specialized. It will feature gourmet-style coffee, crafted to an individual’s taste, as well as books, music and alcohol at night.

“There are some good coffee shops in the area,” he said, but they are much different from what he wants to do.

While coffee shops and bookstores have come to downtown Biddeford before, and not lasted very long, Macomber said he hopes by combining the two, and other elements, as well as operating into the evening, this will provide him with the revenue and customer base to survive.

But, he said, without winning the competition he wouldn’t be able to open his shop. This is not only because of the prizes like free rent and a forgivable loan, but also because of support from the community and the hands-on approach from his lender, Bangor Savings.

Like the other two competition winners, Thibeau and Rhames said their restaurant wouldn’t be opening next week if they hadn’t also won the Main Street Challenge.

“It never seemed like an option,” said Rhames. “We didn’t have the capital.”

Although they still had to invest in the business, it gave them the impetus to start and allowed Thibeau to quit her job as a medical assistant and focus on getting the restaurant ready.

Thibeau said she thinks the area is ready for a vegetarian restaurant.

Dahlia’s Delights should be successful, said Thibeau, because, “Not only is it going to be different from other downtown restaurants, but also you don’t have to be a vegetarian to eat vegetarian food.”

She said she has been teaching vegetarian cooking as a course at Biddeford’s Adult Education ”“ and Rhames raves about her cooking.

The new businesses have some overlap with some of the existing downtown businesses, said Poupore, and should compliment what’s already in the area.

Both Poupore and Stevenson said they are working on ways to continue to fill vacancies in downtown Biddeford.

Poupore encourages those interested in seeing what the downtown has to offer, with both the new stores and those that have been around for years, to visit the Biddeford’s Main Street Friday night, Nov. 30, when there will be a Biddeford ArtWalk and holiday festival.

Tote Road, at 40 Laconia St., with a display window at 128 Main St., and Dahlia’s Delights at 137 Main St. will hold grand openings that night.

Although Elements won’t be open, the business will have a display at 265 Main St., where it will be located.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.