FREEPORT – The vacancy to be created by the closing of the J.L. Coombs shoe store on Bow Street in Freeport should not be difficult to fill, the executive director of the Freeport Economic Development Corp. says.

Keith McBride said that the location of the store, as well as its size, both play in favor of another business taking over the building at 15 Bow St., owned by Edgar Leighton.

“It’s a visible spot, and the size of that building makes it very desirable for retail. I wouldn’t expect it would be vacant for very long,” McBride said.

The company announced last week that it would close its Freeport and Portland stores and launched a sale starting last Friday on its entire stock of well-known brands. J.L. Coombs will keep its Freeport store open until the merchandise is sold, a clerk said Monday.

“You should have seen it here last Friday, there was a two-hour wait in line,” said Mindy Bourgeois. “Most of it is gone now.”

McBride said that J.L. Coombs was a fixture in Freeport.

“They have been a part of Freeport for an awful long time,” McBride said. “It’s a shame.”

J.L. Coombs’ closure marks the second closing of a shoe store in Freeport in the past year, as Timberland closed on Main Street nearly a year ago. But Sperry Top-Sider has since opened a shoe store at 56 Main St.

“This isn’t an indicator that shoe stores are doing badly,” McBride said. “Freeport has a lot of businesses that sell shoes. The fact that a couple of them has closed is not an indicator.”

Leighton said last Friday he is not sure how long J.L. Coombs has occupied the building, constructed in 1981-82. Chances are, it won’t be empty for long.

“I do have a couple of interested parties already,” Leighton said.

Late last spring, J.L. Coombs moved out of the discount shoe store it had operated on U.S. Route 1 South, and moved its line of discounted shoes to the basement of the store on Bow Street.

The company, which began in 1830 as a shoe manufacturer, became a retailer under the ownership of Bob Pearl. Its brands include Dansko, Ecco, Cushe, Merrell, Hunter, Keen, Born, Ahnu, Reef, Olukai, Ariat, Frye, Rieker, Naot, Ugg and Patagonia.

Pearl did not respond to a request for comment by the Tri-Town Weekly’s deadline Monday afternoon.

The sign at the J.L. Coombs shoe store at 15 Bow St. in Freeport tells the story.