SUN JOURNAL • June 4, 2022
It doesn’t take long to get to know the man behind the multi-layer business the public knows as Roopers. At 63, the former soldier turned entrepreneur isn’t ashamed to say he’s lived a hardscrabble life. Steve Roop has quite literally built from scratch what 30 years later has become a beverage retailer, wholesaler and redemption center behemoth in central Maine. It all started in March 1992 as a small redemption station on Sabattus Street, built and run by Roop himself. At night he started building out what would become his first beer and wine store. At the time, all the 32-year-old had on his mind was survival. Today, Roopers has six retail outlets, four redemption centers and his budding wholesale business, which caters to the hospitality industry.