TOPSHAM

The Topsham Fair Mall is losing another tenant — the third reported since early July.

Come Sept. 24, the Maurices women’s clothing store will be open its last day at the plaza it shares with anchor store Best Buy. “Store closing” signs lined the windows of the store on Wednesday afternoon.

Best Buy announced earlier this week it will not renew its lease in October for the 20,000-square-foot store, and Bed Bath and Beyond announced in July it will relocate to Merrymeeting Plaza later this fall.

Maurices officials did not comment on the closure when reached by phone Wednesday. It has 1,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada and is a brand of Ascena Retail Group. According to its website, there are six Maurices locations in Maine including the Topsham store.

“I talked to the store manager, and she said it wasn’t the company’s decision (to leave),” said the store manager of nearby Dollar Tree, who declined to provide his name or any other information regarding Maurice’s management.

“Lots of stores are flip-flopping between Brunswick and Topsham, but some are leaving the area all together,” said the Dollar Tree manager. “Shopping complexes are changing their lease prices, so that could have something to with it.”

When asked if his store was in jeopardy, the manager said, “So far so good, here.”

Derek Miller is the broker for the property at 105 Topsham Fair Mall Road with CBRE The Boulous Company, the commercial real estate brokerage firm. He said there are currently two vacancies and Best Buy will be the third at the plaza.

Without naming names, “We’re talking to numerous national retailers to backfill both the Best Buy space and the current vacancies at the property as well,” Miller said. “We’re working through some proposals, so we’re having substantive business discussions.”

Topsham Economic and Community Development Director John Shattuck said the trend in retail now is less brick and mortar and smaller stores. His sense is that the retail areas in Topsham and Brunswick have approximately 50 percent more retail space than there is market demand for, “so you’ll continue to see stuff like this,” with stores closing or moving between retail centers.

“To me, the big story is, how are we as a region going to deal with it,” Shattuck said.

He estimates the retail areas that do the best job of keeping investments current and updated and doing the kind of work Topsham is doing with its road study within the mall will be successful areas where retail will aggregate.

Dan Catlin, who has done a number of projects in the Topsham Fair Mall, recently announced his new 11,000-square-foot building at 86 Topsham Fair Mall Road will house a Sherwin-Williams paint store and said Wednesday he has a signed letter of intent with Sport Clips.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a surprise about Best Buy,” Catlin said. “We all kind of knew that could be coming down the pike.”

Bed Bath and Beyond moving to Brunswick and Best Buy closing its doors has nothing to do with Topsham Fair Mall, Catlin said. “They’re a direct result of Internet sales,” he said.

If you look at office supply stores, junior box stores in the realm of 20,000 square feet, whether it is a Staples or Office Max, Catlin said they’ve all taken huge hits. Some are closed, and they are challenging stores to sell.

With news of Best Buy not renewing its lease, Catlin said he doesn’t believe it will have a direct effect at the mall. The important thing is it will fill back up, he said.

No store closing is good, “but I don’t think it’s going to affect any of the smaller stores that we’re developing,” he said. “I’m basically concentrating on food and service businesses. Service businesses are very strong.”

He added, “You can’t get a haircut online. You can’t buy paint online.”

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com, dmoore@timesrecord.com

Store stats

• MAURICES has 1,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada and is a brand of Ascena Retail Group. According to its website, there are six Maurices locations in Maine including the Topsham store.