A number of factors go into selecting a place to open a business. Is there ample parking? Is it located where my customers will find me? How does the location look? Who are my neighbors? What are the growth patterns in the area? This column takes a look at Cook’s Corner and Topsham Fair Mall, two area retail centers that each come with their share of advantages and disadvantages.

Cook’s Corner has historically been the stronger of the two retail areas, however, that strength has diminished over the past 5 to 10 years. The large shopping center, owned by Ohio-based DDR Corp., has seen several large vacancies and suffers from a dated exterior. Its anchor stores include Sears, TJ Maxx, Big Lots and Staples. Walmart and Mid Coast Hospital are two big draws to the retail area.

Topsham Fair Mall, on the other hand, appears to have taken a significant amount of market share over the years. The shopping area is comprised of several plazas with various owners and is located at the interchange area of Exit 31 of Interstate 295.

The table accompanying this column represents a comparison chart highlighting key statistics regarding each of the shopping centers. A more in-depth discussion of the two retail areas is as follows.

Topsham Fair Mall

The main Topsham Fair Mall area is owned and managed locally by Four J, LLC. Each of the plazas is accessed by a meandering road so that each of the large retailers has its own location. This area has attracted the attention of several national retailers such as the Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Petco. It is also located directly off I-295.

Topsham Fair Mall is actually a collection of several shopping plazas. All together they are known as the Topsham Fair Mall area. This is significant when considering the vacancy rate in the shopping conglomerate, which stands at about 13 percent. The majority of the vacancy is at the former Village Candle facility where about 50 percent of the former candle manufacturing space is vacant. The rest of the plazas have much smaller rates of vacancies, totaling just under 3.3 percent overall.

Through the recession there has been little development at Topsham Fair Mall, which still has about 40 acres of undeveloped land. It has taken until 2011 for any new construction; Town Fair Tire developed its location in the area, Panera Bread was completed this year and a newly constructed three-suite building housing a mattress store and sandwich shop is nearing completion. There is still one 2,000-square-foot space available in this newest facility.

Cook’s Corner

At the Cook’s Corner plaza, the vacancy rate is about 11.5 percent. However, neighboring Merrymeeting Plaza is struggling to fill the space after the exit of its two anchor tenants — the out-of-business Borders books and Old Navy along with several smaller units as well.

According to leasing agents involved with the plaza, there are potential candidates for some of the larger units. Merrymeeting Plaza is currently 36 percent vacant and combined with the “healthier” Cook’s Corner, the rate is just under 20 percent overall.

In the past 15 years, retail and service development spread somewhat from the main plaza area to the east along Bath Road. Walmart, Lowe’s and Mid Coast Hospital create a significant draw to the area.

There have been some recent occupancy changes in the Cook’s Corner area. The former Friendly’s facility has recently been occupied by Five Guys Burgers and CoastalORTHO recently built another office at Cook’s Corner. As of this writing, Wendy’s located to the northeast of the two main plazas is in the process of closing its doors.

Other items that have, and may, affect the shopping area are access roads. Monument Place was built in Topsham Fair Mall and spurred the development of two buildings there. A proposed road to connect Gurnet Road to Walmart at Cook’s Corner could do the same. Each of the retail areas have generally good access and exposure. Greater attention appears to have been paid to the Topsham Fair Mall area in recent years, although it appears as though developers and potential tenants have not yet turned their backs on the former market leader, Cook’s Corner.

TOM SIEGEL is the owner of CPrime Valuation Group LLC, a Topsham-based commercial real estate valuation and consultancy firm focused on in-depth market analysis and valuation services. He can be reached at tom@cprimegroup.com. The column will appear monthly.