Some might call the owner of Big Al's in Wiscasset a force of nature.

To say that Big Al is a strong personality is an understatement. He doesn't reveal his surname. “The day I moved to Maine I decided my name was going to be Big Al,” he said.

Big Al grew up in the Big Apple, in Queens, where his family was in the retail/wholesale business. He has the accent to prove it.

He decided at a young age that working in the family business was not his destiny.

Big Al started coming to Maine with a friend who was in Boy Scouts with him in New York. His friend's grandfather had property near Owls Head.

“I came to Maine for good in 1986. I wanted to go into the mini-storage business, and I started looking into buying land on Long Island.” He said that in 1985 land there was $400,000 to $700,000 an acre. Next he looked in Connecticut, and it wasn't much less, so he kept heading north. He tried to make a deal on a mini storage unit in Boothbay with Rupe Neily, but Neily wasn't happy with his offer. He left a check for a down payment anyway.

“The further north I went the cheaper the land got. I ended up buying eight acres on Route 1 in Northport for around $30,000.”

Big Al came back to Boothbay to get his check back from Neily. “I walked into Rupe's office and told him I was going to build the mini storage somewhere else. The phone rang. It was his daughter. He started talking to her. After 15 minutes I took my check out of the folder, and I left.”

The next day he called a probate court judge in Hartford, Connecticut, where the now deceased owner of the mini-storage had lived. He struck a deal to buy the property in Boothbay.

The mini-unit couldn't be seen from Route 27 because of trees. “I went out and bought a chainsaw and cut down the trees, which I shouldn't have. I cut it up and put a plywood sign next to the road saying, “Free for the Needy.” For the next three days people were coming to pick up wood.”

He now has seven buildings at the Boothbay storage business.

During his first summer in Maine, Big Al lived in a 32-foot tag-along trailer at Shore Hills Campground. “My son was a junior in high school, and my wife thought I was crazy, so they stayed in New York,” he said. The first winter here he took the trailer it to the mini-storage and jerry-rigged a way to get water from a stream with a sump pump and 250 feet of hose. That worked out until the night of the San Francisco earthquake in 1989.

“I was living in the trailer, and I ran out of propane. I woke up at 2:30 a.m. It was freezing, and there was a hailstorm — on a metal trailer with no insulation. It freaked me out.” Big Al packed up and headed to New York. “I had a house in New York. If someone called looking for space at the mini-storage, I'd come back for a day.”

Before moving to his present location, Big Al opened his first store in 1987 at the location that is now Maine Coast Stove & Chimney Co. on Route One in Wiscasset.

Big Al said he's a liquidator for a lot of big companies. “I buy and sell deals,” he said. “I'm always looking for deals. Sometimes I'll do seven or eight trailer loads in a shot. Every Christmas I send crates of lobsters to people I deal with. I've sent more boxes of lobsters than you could imagine to different companies, to keep people happy.”

The inventory at Big Al’s is always changing. He has a friend in Pennsylvania who has two stores, Odd Lot Outlet, similar to Big Al's. They buy inventory together and split it up.

You never know what you'll find at Big Al's. There's a large selection of greeting cards that sell for half the original price. There are educational toys for kids, pet supplies, party supplies, books, souvenirs, housewares, pots and pans, clothing, books, scrapbooking materials, baskets, frames, yarn, stationery, plastic containers, trash cans, totes, rope, cleaning supplies, picture frames, and all kinds of surprises. As Big Al says, “If it’s strange and unique, we’ve got it!” Next door to the main store is Big Al's Fireworks Outlet. It opened in October 2012.

Big Al has two enormous warehouses. They are full to the brim with hundreds of thousands of boxes full of items. It appears never ending. “I buy when the deal is there,” he said. “There are 400,000 greeting cards in here. I bought four tractor trailer loads of puzzles a while ago. I sell tons of jigsaw puzzles.”

As mind-boggling as it seems, there is a method to his madness. He knows where everything is stored. “Ninety-five percent of it I could put my hands on right now,” he said. “And it all goes. In three years I'll sell 90 percent of this stuff.”

“I love what I do,” Big Al said. “I'm a crazy guy. I work 12 days straight. Every other Tuesday or Wednesday I get in my car at 5 a.m. and drive to New York to take care of my mother. I come back late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning and I work another 12 days straight. I'm a mouse in a wheel. If I didn't love what I do I wouldn't do it.”

Big Al's second best friend is a Boston terrier named Lily (his first is his wife). Lily spends most of her time with Big Al, and all the regular shoppers know her.

“Shopping at Big Al's is an adventure,” he said. “Running Big Al's is a bigger adventure. Every day is different. Some days I feel like a fireman. I have to put fires out. But lots of days are lots of fun. I love coming to work. As my wife likes me to say, ‘I love my wife, I love my work, and I love my dog.’ And I said that in the right order. She won't get mad at me. Life is good.”

Big Al's is located on Route One in Wiscasset, 1 ½ miles south of downtown. Call 207-882-6423.