Franchising law involves helping new business owners evaluate franchising opportunities, and assist in the purchase and operation of business franchises -- an alternative to starting a new, independent business from scratch. Franchising allows businesses owners to reduce their investment risk by associating with an established company, but may also require business owners to relinquish significant control over their business.
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in the U.S. state of Maine and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 38,000 at the 2007 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan New England City and Town Area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. A former industrial center, it is located in south-central Maine, at the falls of the Androscoggin River, across from Auburn. Lewiston and Auburn are often thought of as a single entity and referred to as Lewiston-Auburn, which is colloquially abbreviated as L-A or L/A, and have and a combined population of roughly 65,000 people. Lewiston is home to Bates College, the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston-Auburn College, and two significant regional general hospitals: Central Maine Medical Center and Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.