WATERVILLE — A love for Waterville and a desire to see it thrive are what drive Charlie Giguere, business owner, landlord, community leader and entrepreneur.
Giguere, owner of Silver Street Tavern, Spirits nightclub, office and residential properties, and manager of Champions Fitness Center, has spent a lifetime growing businesses in Waterville, serving on civic organizations and providing jobs.
It is that commitment to helping the community grow through workforce expansion, renovations and foresight that has made Giguere Management Group the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s 2014 Business of the Year.
Giguere, a former president and 25-year member of the Waterville Rotary Club who also is incoming chairman of the board of directors for Waterville Main Street, says he is honored to have been chosen for the award. He will receive the accolade at the chamber’s 52nd annual awards dinner April 30 at the Waterville Elks Banquet & Conference Center.
“It’s an honor and a tribute, especially to all of my staff and associates who hung in there with me for many, many years,” Giguere said.
One of those former employees is chamber President Kimberly N. Lindlof, who says she paid for college by working at Champions at Elm Plaza years ago and is grateful not only for the faith Giguere showed in her, but also for giving her an opportunity to develop management skills under his tutelage.
“Charlie is both entrepreneurial and bottom-line driven,” Lindlof said. “He runs a tight ship, and that has led him to be successful.”
The son of Canadian immigrants, Giguere grew up on Silver Street and attended the former St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church on Elm Street and worked in his father’s four area grocery stores, taking a week off from school while in the eighth grade to manage the Main Street store when his parents took a much-needed vacation. After high school, he attended Loyola University, a Jesuit school in New Orleans, obtaining a degree in mathematics.
He went back to work in the family business, which grew to 16 stores, and later he bought a fitness club at Elm Plaza and re-named it Champions. During the 1990s, he was a consultant and managed a group of restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area and then a chain of party goods stores in St. Louis while still owning Champions. Eventually, he started a physical therapy company that later became a satellite physical therapy center for Inland Hospital.
In 2010 he bought at building at 137 Main St. downtown that now houses Amici’s Cucina, an Italian restaurant owned by Mary Carpinito, a former long-time employee of Giguere, and her husband, Angelo. Giguere, who leases the restaurant space to the couple, also renovated the second story apartments in the building.
In 2011 he purchased the Silver Street Tavern building at auction, resurrected the tavern’s former name and underwent a 3-year process of restoring the upper floors of the building to historic standards and creating five apartments and six office suites. Spirits nightclub is now in the basement of the tavern.
Giguere employs 71 people at Champions, Silver Street and Spirits, as well as several other workers in other ventures, including an apartment building on West Street and buildings with 17 rental units in Winslow.
Last year, when Giguere’s lease at Champions was nearly up, he gave notice to the Rosenthal family, which owns Elm Plaza and the Champions building, that he would close the business. Many capital improvements were needed to the building and it did not make sense to undertake them himself.
He and the Rosenthals came to an agreement that would keep Champions open. The Rosenthals would take ownership of the business and make the necessary capital investment and Giguere would be the operations manager rather than the tenant. As a result, they were able to save 30 jobs.
“It’s personal to me that Charlie was able to team up with the Rosenthals to save Champions and its employees,” Lindlof said.
Giguere is a former member of the board of directors for Mid-Maine Alliance on Mental Illness Maine. He also is a former president and member of the board of directors for the Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club, which eventually became part of the Alfond Youth Center, and later was chief volunteer officer there.
He also serves on a new downtown planning committee launched by Colby College to help invest in and re-energize the downtown.
Asked what advice he would give to young entrepreneurs just starting out, Giguere said they should take their big risks early in life.
“Take your risk when you have nothing to lose,” he said. “You have to take a risk.”
The father of four, Giguere is an avid pilot, boater and motorcyclist.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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