A new store will be filling in some of the empty space at the Aroostook Centre Mall this summer — the discount equipment and tool retailer Harbor Freight Tools.
After weeks of rumors wafting around Presque Isle, Aroostook Centre Mall manager Patti Crooks confirmed that Harbor Freight Tools is setting up a store in the space formerly occupied by Sears.
“They will be up here the first week of June for construction,” and expect to open in the middle or end of August, Crooks said.
Harbor Freight, a privately-held company based in southern California, has 750 stores nationwide and three in Maine, in Auburn, Bangor and South Portland. The company’s headquarters did not respond to requests seeking more information.
The stores carry more than 7,000 kinds of tools, equipment, hardware and accessories — “everything from a pressure washer to a chainsaw,” Crooks said.
Crooks said that Harbor Freight is expected to employ between 30 and 40 part-time workers and three-to-four full time workers.
Like many malls around the country, the Aroostook Centre Mall, owned by the New York-based developer Widewaters Group, has been struggling to keep big stores, as more retail shopping moves online and shopping habits evolve. Last year, the mall’s Kmart store closed. Previously, other stores such as Sears and Staples had left.
While major sections of the mall are not occupied, Crooks noted that there are 20 stores and organizations currently in the mall, including several non-retail tenants such as the United Way of Aroostook and All-Star Gymnastics.
Crooks has spent several years working to recruit other stores to fill some of the gaps that have been left in the big box store exodus. She said she’s also been exploring options for the mall’s space in the long-term.
“We need to take a serious look at the community and what the community needs,” Crooks said. “It could be service, it could be housing, it could be retail.”
