Frisbee's Market makeover: Winds of change blow uneasily for a beloved local landmark.

Byline: Kelley Bouchard

Aug. 21--Ask longtime Kittery residents about Frisbee's Market and they'll tell you it's gone. But take a leisurely drive down Pepperrell Road in Kittery Point and there it is, plain as day. "Well," the locals correct themselves, "it's just not the same." That's true enough. Once billed as the oldest family-run store in the United States, the village gathering spot closed in early 2009, a victim of changing times, tough luck and a bad economy. Most locals now shop for groceries at supermarkets in Portsmouth, N.H., and elsewhere.

The block-letter sign on the building still says Frisbee's Market, founded in 1828. Stenciled on the …