Allen, Sterling & Lothrop—Who We Are:
A Family Run Business
Shirley Brannigan: G2
Shirley first worked as a secretary at Allen, Sterling, & Lothrop on Middle St in Portland when her father, Mickey Maguire, bought the business in the 1960’s. Under her father’s leadership the struggling business thrived and she and her husband Tony took over the business in 1982.
Shirley is as much a fixture at AS&L as her father was and can be found most days tending to customers, stocking the floor, and packing seed in the seed room. She enjoys all the people associated with AS&L from the customers to her co-workers and employees—she especially loves working with her son Shawn and grandsons, Blake and Riley.
Shawn Brannigan: G3
Shawn doesn’t know what to call his role at AS&L. His title is General Manager and he does everything from washing toilets, to purchasing and making financial decisions and everything in between!
His earliest memory of AS&L is getting freight elevator rides in the old Portland store from Henry when he was 4-5 years old. In between waiting on customers, he would give Shawn rides on the old elevator—pulling him up and down using the hand-rope. He would also give Shawn rides on the old hand-trucks. Henry was a strong presence at AS&L. He ran the AS&L wholesale seed department from 1945-2000—when he retired at youthful age of 90!
Shawn has been working at AS&L for more than 40 years and has both his wife, Elizabeth, and two of his sons, Blake(G4) and Riley(G4), working here as well! Elizabeth and Riley manage the Retail Gift Shop side of things, purchasing, displaying for the shop, and taking care of customers. Blake does many jobs including loading the many landscaper customers, packaging bulk seed, working in the warehouse, and loading and unloading trucks.
Most other AS&L employees have worked here a long time! With some ranging over 35 years, they become more like family than employees.
What the Brannigan’s want for the next hundred years isn’t a lot different from the first hundred years, with God’s guidance AS&L will continue to change with the times, look for new opportunities and make good business decisions.
