LEWISTON — Four years after it closed down, Zimmie’s Comics will return to the Main Street storefront where it began.

“Now is the time to see if it can be done,” said Daniel Bailey, 29, of Lewiston. “I’m calling this Zimmie’s version 2.5. It won’t have as much inventory in there as I’d like, at first. But we will get there.”

Bailey is partnering with founder Joe Loubier to resurrect the store at 197 Main St. It should reopen in August with comics, collectibles and a downstairs gaming room.

The store had been an icon for Central Maine’s comic book collectors and fans for nearly two decades and has offered a home for role-playing gamers since 1999.

Tough times forced Loubier to shut down in 2009. At the time, he said he was willing to work with someone to bring back the brand.

Bailey worked at the store for a time, and was in college when it closed. He decided he had the time and the money this spring to start a new company, L/A Comics and Games.

He began working out of a corner office on the fourth floor of 34 Main St. in April, but he soon realized he was running out of space.

“I took what I had and tried to do it in steps,” he said. “It started as a delivery service. People would sign up and order comics and I’d get them for them, but it grew. Every week I was adding a new person, a new person, a new person. As soon as I started breaking even, I decided to see what could really be done.”

He continued talking to his friend Loubier, who discussed leasing the Zimmie’s name and fixtures.

“He said, ‘How about I just get in?'” Bailey said. “That was a great thing, because everybody knows and loves Joe.”

It all came together in June when the spot at 197 Main St. became available.

“It’s actually the storefront where Zimmie’s first moved to Main Street,” Loubier said. “We expanded into the corner at one point and turned this area into the game room. But this is the original space.”

They pasted up a white piece of paper with the familiar Zimmie’s logo this week. Loubier said the familiar red and yellow sign should be up in the next few days.

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