Renys, the Maine-based retailer, plans to open its 20th store in October in Augusta.
While the move marks its second expansion in central Maine this year, it’s also part of the retail growth happening in Augusta that is filling up vacancies following the departures of other stores.
“We’ve wanted to be in Augusta for a while,” John Reny, president of Renys, said. “We had a few chances at the Turnpike Mall where the Christmas Tree Shop used to be, and it didn’t pan out for one reason or another. We got a call about the Big Lots in Augusta going out, and the landlord has some pretty favorable terms for us and we decided we should go for it.”
Work is underway now on the 30,000-square-foot space that Big Lots had leased in the Capitol Shopping Center on Western Avenue. Company officials are holding a hiring fair there Thursday; they expect to hire 40 to 50 people.
Keith Luke, the economic development director for the City of Augusta, believes the Augusta store will be one of the store’s most successful locations.
The store’s size, ample free parking and a high traffic count of around 18,000 vehicles per day — and more when the Maine State Legislature is in session — will contribute to its success.
“It’s not going to just be another Renys, it’s going to be one of the best Renys,” Luke said.
The company’s challenge has been opening two stores in one year.
Reny said the last time that happened was 2011, when stores opened in Portland and Topsham. The Portland store will close at the end of the year; officials cited sales that have not rebounded since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We don’t usually open two stores in a year and we said we will never do that again, but we must have forgotten,” Reny said.
The Waterville store at 60 Elm Plaza opened in April, moving into the former J.C. Penney location; it’s about the same size as the Augusta store.
In Waterville, experts say that the city is continuing to grow through business expansions and a demand for the empty downtown spaces to be filled. Waterville has its own boutique hotel and several restaurants have opened downtown over the past couple of years.
The family-run business was founded in 1949, by Reny’s father, Robert H. Reny; the store’s success continues to grow across the state. Nicknamed “A Maine Adventure,” the store has everything: from Carhartt branded clothes, to shoes, to grocery items.
John Reny said his father thought it comes down to having an honest business operation with fair prices.
“My dad always said, ‘Treat them right, give them the right price and they’ll remember that the next time they come in.’ I think we stuck by that philosophy and it’s going OK,” he laughed. “We are still in business, healthy, and OK.”
In the past three or four years, three of Augusta’s Western Avenue strip malls — the Turnpike Mall, the Kmart Plaza and the Capital Shopping Center — have been considered distressed, but that’s no longer the case, said Luke. A distressed strip mall is categorized as over 30% of the stores having vacancies, he said.
New tenants at the Turnpike Mall include Hobby Lobby, Harbor Freight and Ocean State Job Lot.
The Kmart Plaza is now the focus of a redevelopment effort that has leveled the site; a hotel and residential housing with retail space is planned.
Outside Augusta’s retail plazas, the Marketplace at Augusta continues to thrive, as does the city’s downtown on Water Street, Luke said.
Water Street’s vacancies are at an all-time low and the addition of a boutique hotel will be “game-changing,” Luke said.
Luke credits W.S. Development, the national company that manages the Marketplace at Augusta, for its success.
“W.S. Development has kept their facilities fully leased with retailers that are in-demand and well-matched to the central Maine economy,” Luke said. “We hear over and over that brick and mortar stores are on the demise, but the folks at W.S. Development would dispute that. People want to shop everywhere, from Target, to Walmart Supercenter, to Kohl’s.
“It’s an exciting time to be in Augusta,” he said.
