After more than a decade in Portland, Renys Department Store will close its Congress Street location sometime in the next year.

“Our lease is up next April, and we won’t be renewing in the Portland location,” Holly Margaritis, the company’s human resources coordinator, said on a Wednesday morning phone call. “We just spoke with the staff at the store yesterday.”

Renys has not settled on a precise closing date, she said. One of 19 locations in Maine, the Portland store opened in 2011, according to the company’s website. Sixteen employees currently work there, Margaritis said.

“Regrettably, after 15 years, we will be closing at the end of this year,” the company said in a written statement Wednesday afternoon. “Store sales have not rebounded since the pandemic. We will be offering transfers to our employees as well as bonuses for those who stay with us through closing.”

Renys does not have immediate plans to open a new location in the city, Margaritis said.

The shop’s closure was first reported by The Burn, which said a spokesperson had cited “safety concerns” and that management told employees “violent incidents at the store” had factored into the decision.

Asked about whether violence or other incidents played a role in the closure, Margaritis emphasized that depressed sales were the “major factor in leaving.”

Business owners along Congress Street have voiced concerns in recent weeks about what they call an uptick in drug use, loitering and other disturbances. Like much of Maine, the city has seen a growing population of homeless people in recent years. The city has also been struggling to fill vacant storefronts in that area and is looking at ways to incentivize rentals.

Following community complaints, police have dedicated more attention to the area over the last two months, said city spokesperson Jessica Grondin. She added that the department aims to set up a temporary community policing space near Monument Square next month.

In May, the latest month for which data was provided, the Portland Police Department responded to 12 calls at Renys — four times as many as the year before. That followed 18 calls in April, 3 in March and 13 in February, according to data provided by spokesperson Brad Nadeau.

The 46 calls logged between February and May included 12 for “person(s) bothering”; 18 for shoplifting and theft; plus a handful of trespassing, refusing to leave and suspicious activity, Nadeau said.

Margaritis said the closure is not reflective of the company’s overall performance. She added that the site’s landlord has “been great.”

“Renys is fine,” she said. “At this point in time, we don’t really want to make a statement in regards to that. It’s fairly new to all our staff, so we want to respect their feelings and the situation that they’re in.”

The company opened a Waterville location in April. The Portland building at 540 Congress St. previously housed an L.L.Bean outlet store.