WATERVILLE — The Concourse will be home to a new discount store later this fall.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is a national chain specializing in closeout merchandise including housewares, stationary, kitchen goods and hardware. The chain, which claims it is America’s largest retailer of closeout merchandise and excess inventory since 1982, is expected to open in the downtown plaza by the end of October or early November.

The Pennsylvania-based retailer is moving in to 18 Concourse West, the former site of the Northern Light Primary Care office.

Ollie’s is expected to have 700 stores by the end of September, said Tom Kuypers, senior vice president of marketing and advertising. The Pennsylvania-based outlet sources goods from closeouts, surplus orders, bankrupt retailers and similar, and sells it to customers at about 70% off what Kuypers calls “fancy store retails.”

While Ollie’s merchandise changes on a regular basis, Kuypers said the categories of food, bed and bath, clothing, decor, books, seasonal products, pet goods, hardware, rugs and stationary stay pretty consistent.

“It’s actually a really fun and interesting shopping experience,” Kuypers said. “The projects within those categories change, but they’re everyday products.”

Kuypers said when Ollie’s is choosing a location for a new store, the company considers what will be convenient for customers, demographics and real estate. He said its important that Ollie’s can become part of the community.

“Once we get to a place where we feel like it’s the right market and we can make a real estate deal that makes sense to us, then we’ll open up and we want to be open for years to come,” Kuypers said. “We just want to bring our own brand of fun to the community and hopefully save people money.”

Marden’s is a surplus and salvage bargain store based in Maine with a location in Waterville, and on Facebook some Waterville residents wrote that Ollie’s would bring Marden’s competition.

Kuypers said Ollie’s doesn’t really look at who the competition is in a particular area, as Walmart is usually the biggest competition for everybody.

The new Waterville store will employ between 30 and 50 people, Kuypers said, and the company does around 75% of its promotions from within the company, so there’s room for employee advancement. To apply to the Waterville location, Kuypers said people can visit the company’s career site via ollies.com, or stop by The Concourse.

Company officials are planning a grand opening when the store officially opens.

Waterville is its second location in Maine; it also has a store in Sanford.