The Grand View Topless coffee shop opened in Maine last Monday

Update: 6/3/09

Hours after the owner of a topless coffee shop appeared before Vassalboro planning board, Maine firefighters were putting out flames at his establishment.

Donald Crabtree had just met with the town’s planning board to talk to officials about turning the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop into a strip club, when the business went up in flames.

Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office are sifting through the ruins to determine what caused the early Wednesday morning blaze.

EMS workers driving by the shop reported the fire just before 1:00 a.m.

Crabtree, who spent $277,000 buying and renovating the former motel and six other people were in the shop at the time of the fire.

Authorities said there were no injuries.

From USA Today

Last month, Starbucks introduced a $1 bottomless cup of coffee to boost sales. Yesterday, a former motel turned java hut topped that offer in a bid to stimulate the local Maine economy.

The Grand View Topless Coffee Shop, in tiny Vassalboro, held its grand opening. Obey the signs:

“Over 18 only.”

“No cameras, no touching, cash only.”

Waitron Susie Wiley, 23, has worked in coffee shops since she was a teen. She took a job at the Grand View because it is “something different.”

She feel exploited?

“No, I love it. I find it very empowering, not degrading,” she told the Kennebec Journal this morning, adding that customers had been “completely respectful.”

“We’ve had men, women, couples — all walks of life,” she said.

Brothers Dick and Rene Brochu (ages 60 and 59) came over from Augusta today to check out the coffee after hearing about the joint from friends.

“I really hope it works,” Dick Brochu said. “It’s different. I kind of like it. If you don’t like it, I say don’t come in, stay away.”

No reviews about the coffee.

The town’s planning board unanimously approved the coffee shop last month.

“I say, bring the money in,” resident Kevin Goodrich said. “People need jobs and it’s a good place to go. The economy’s not very good right now, so why not do it?”