Aroostook Centre Mall; Presque Isle, Maine
Some of the more astute readers of Labelscar may have noticed that we quietly launched a new feature the other day, accessible via the page navigation in the top right of the page. All the Malls of New England is modeled after our friend Mitch Glaser’s similarly-named All the Malls of Southern California, where I’m going to seek to catalog positively everything in my little corner of the country.
There’s really no better place to start than at the end: the last New England mall that I visited, in June of 2005. As you might imagine, it’s also–by some measure–the most remote mall in New England: Presque Isle, Maine’s Aroostook Centre Mall.
Now, for those of you who live outside of New England, it may take some additional explanation to show just how remote that Aroostook Centre is. Located seven hours north of Boston (making it only marginally closer to Boston than Baltimore, Maryland) in the plains of northern Maine, this half-a-million square foot mall is perhaps the primary attraction in Presque Isle, the keystone city in Aroostook County, Maine. Aroostook County itself is a large, rural, impoverished county located in extreme northern Maine. It’s the largest county in land area east of the Mississippi River and is known mainly as a somewhat faded potato farming region. Presque Isle (with a population of approximately 10,000) is so far removed that it’s even home to its own tiny television market. Presque Isle is located a relatively short distance from the New Brunswick border, and is within an hour or so of the Quebec border. It’s about 150 miles north of Bangor, the closest city.
Strangely, Aroostook Centre Mall is the third largest mall in Maine, trailing only after the state’s only two major malls in Portland and Bangor. Even Lewiston/Auburn, the state’s second largest metropolitan area, doesn’t host a mall as large as the half-million square foot Aroostook Centre. Still, Aroostook Centre seems to have been built in a fit of optimism in the early 1990s and opened in 1993, out of the hopes that Canadian shoppers would flock to the mall for American goods and inject much-needed tourism dollars into struggling Aroostook County. Clearly it hasn’t happened.
JP, one of our frequent posters, noted this about Aroostook Centre in the comments not long after I first made this post:
The thing to remember about this mall was that 1991 or so was when the Canadian cross-border shopping craze was at its height. The GST (a nationwide 7% sales tax that has since been reduced to 6%) had just been introduced. Houlton and Calais (closest Maine towns to Fredericton and Saint John NB respectively) became temporary boomtowns.
Unfortunately, by the time it actually opened, the madness had subsided due to new Canadian duty rules. It was also around this time, perhaps coincidentally, that Wal-Mart entered Maine. It also was too far from any major Canadian population centres to be that big a draw. People in Fredericton, still a good 2+ hours away and the closest Canadian city of any appreciable size, still drove the extra hour, along a better road, to Bangor, if they still shopped across the border at all (and don’t get me wrong, they still do – witness the New Brunswick license plates at the Bangor Mall or the Houlton Wal-Mart).
Not only did they overestimate the Canadian effect, the County’s largest employer, Loring Air Force Base, shut down in 1994. That and other factors sent the local economy into a tailspin. (It got so bad that two Phish concerts became the economic highlight of the late 90s in the area.)
The most recent development: the adjacent movie theatre, the only one in Presque Isle, closed last year. A Lowe’s is replacing it. There were plans earlier this year for another theatre inside the mall, but I’m not sure if it actually happened. Even if it is built, it will only have half the screens as the former one. That right there is the story of Presque Isle and this mall in a nutshell.
Perhaps the most telling element of this mall was that, upon my visit in June 2005, I noticed a group of teenagers walking through the mall wearing Old Navy T-shirts. There’s no Old Navy in this mall; they had to have bought those shirts way down in Bangor.
Tor
August 2nd, 2006 at 2:10 am
Yes, it’s so remote that many Maine natives (myself included) have never visited The County. Great pictures. And looking up the right-hand column, I have one nit to pick: up here, it would be the “Ames’s fan club.”
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JP
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:26 pm
The thing to remember about this mall was that 1991 or so was when the Canadian cross-border shopping craze was at its height. The GST (a nationwide 7% sales tax that has since been reduced to 6%) had just been introduced. Houlton and Calais (closest Maine towns to Fredericton and Saint John NB respectively) became temporary boomtowns.
Unfortunately, by the time it actually opened, the madness had subsided due to new Canadian duty rules. It was also around this time, perhaps coincidentally, that Wal-Mart entered Maine. It also was too far from any major Canadian population centres to be that big a draw. People in Fredericton, still a good 2+ hours away and the closest Canadian city of any appreciable size, still drove the extra hour, along a better road, to Bangor, if they still shopped across the border at all (and don’t get me wrong, they still do – witness the New Brunswick license plates at the Bangor Mall or the Houlton Wal-Mart).
Not only did they overestimate the Canadian effect, the County’s largest employer, Loring Air Force Base, shut down in 1994. That and other factors sent the local economy into a tailspin. (It got so bad that two Phish concerts became the economic highlight of the late 90s in the area.)
The most recent development: the adjacent movie theatre, the only one in Presque Isle, closed last year. A Lowe’s is replacing it. There were plans earlier this year for another theatre inside the mall, but I’m not sure if it actually happened. Even if it is built, it will only have half the screens as the former one. That right there is the story of Presque Isle and this mall in a nutshell.
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Caldor
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Wow, thanks JP! That’s a great bit of information. I’m actually going to update the post with some of these details.
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R Carroll
August 11th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Why didn’t you include in your history/summary of the mall, the recent banckrupcy/sale at 50 cents on the dollar, transaction? Identify old sellers and new buyers, Just a thought. Make any sense?
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Caldor
August 12th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
I actually wasn’t able to find anything about this. Would you be able to elaborate at all? I would be happy to go back and edit the article with some new information but my web searches are turning up empty.
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RCarroll
August 25th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Hello Caldor
I believe I read about the aforementioned PI mall transaction in the Presque Isle Star Herald. Within the past year, I think. I’m not as sure as I used to be, because I’m getting older. You may skip publishing this reply. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.
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sherry brewer
January 12th, 2007 at 5:00 am
The Aroostook Mall and other business’ would do even better if they would get together with motels and hotels and have week-end shopping get away specials for WOMEN. The K-mart in the mall needs to get some color in its store.The mall has potential in attracting stores.I do not know the rent for space .But I would rather have a full tenant mall then one that will not attract shoppers.There isn’t even a Wendy’s in Presque Isle.The food court in the mall where the seating is could be done over with some umbrella tables. The way it is now it is so cluttered. The mall would even do better if maybe it would do a 10% exchange on the cdn dollar. You might say oh we can not do that.Well which is it try to make a dollar or close your doors. Go for it !!!!!!!!
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Eric Freeman
January 19th, 2007 at 2:39 am
The Mall is a severe econo crunch half empty no american eagle or EB Games, or any other natonal stores
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JP
February 7th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I can’t see how specials would work. The only people that would come to the mall are those in Aroostook County and northwest New Brunswick that could easily make a daytrip of it anyway without having to stay overnight. There’s more worth going to in Bangor or even Fredericton (and living in Fredericton, I know how many women go on shopping trips to Bangor or Moncton for even more).
The market is just too small, too isolated, and too economically depressed for many more national chains to enter. They built the mall bigger than it had to be for an influx of shoppers that never came. We’re seeing the effects of it now.
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Zayre88
November 12th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I don’t really know for Aroostook Centre Mall but the canadian cross-border shopping craze is here again. The canadian dollar reached parity and is now worth more than the U.S. dollar. A lot of people from everywhere in Canada are traveling to the U.S. for bargains on everything: milk, books, I-pods, TV’s, beer, groceries, ATVs, clothing and cars!
I was in Augusta this week-end and i saw nearly 50 cars from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the parking lot at Christmas Tree Shops. Cars from atlantic provinces were seen everywhere in town. I can imagine that Bangor, Houlton and Presque Isle are getting a lot more of these shoppers now. It’s probably good news for Aroostook Centre Mall !!
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smosh
November 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I checked out the ACM website…just curious about the list of stores. What a weird list. And I see there’s a Trader Joe’s. Almost had a heart attack – what I wouldn’t give for a TJ’s here in Portland!!!!!!!
But, it’s this store:
http://www.aroostookcentremall.com/storedetails.php?sID=C8&fNum=28
Hm…not exactly competition.
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John
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Smosh, it’s not the Trader Joes that you’re thinking of. I looked at the directory a few months ago, and thought the same thing. It’s just some local clothing store using their name.
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Elizabeth
January 4th, 2008 at 12:12 am
The Aroostook Centre Mall might not be as cool as other malls, but it doesn’t help that you put it down. It serves its purpose and as a native of Presque Isle I enjoy spending an afternoon here and there at the mall. It has what it needs and the stores in it are run and owned by people we know and the money stays in the county supporting our economy.
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Sam
January 8th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I just wondered why they will not build TJ Maxx, Target Mall in which Aroostook county will benefit because Canadian Dollar is at par with the US Dollar in that case, it will be good for Aroostook county’s economy and people here doesn’t need to travel for 3 to 4 hours going to Bangor.
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Larry
January 19th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Having been from Presque Isle originally and lived both outside of Maine and in Maine’s more populous southern region, everything about Presque Isle is entirely about perception.
People in the area still have not come to the conclusion that they are on their own and in control of their own destiny. It is NOT a destination area nor will it ever be. It is however, the largest population area for more than a couple hundred miles within the United States. Yes, Fredricton, NB is a good 2 1/2 hour drive away, but the purpose of the mall in Presque Isle was never truly to bring Fredrictonites to Presque Isle, not when the Bangor Mall is not that much further. There are however, a good 150,000+ Canadians living within an hour drive of the Aroostook County border. Presque Isle is so far away from ANY community larger than it that it must have everything to remain self sufficient (hospitals, colleges, and shopping facilities).
Presque Isle’s biggest weakness is its own people not advertising itself properly to potential visitors and investing businesses. Case in point, most people even in the State of Maine don’t realize the mall exists let alone that it is one of the top five largest enclosed single shopping mall facilities in the state.
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Ben
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Good point
i was under the assumption a long time ago that this mall was really nice, when they first opened I remember them having such stores such as Spencer’s, B Moss, Hallmark, KB Toys was nice…, their all gone, and when I go into the mall now, it’s jus depressing, no clothing stores for guys at all, Maurice’s does a good job for girls. Going to the Bangor Mall not only fills my expectations, but makes me really jealous that we can’t have even a few more stores. I would love for them to put a reatiler in that old Porteous space, i don’t see anything going in soon though… in fact I was just in last week, and an original business, The Mad Hatter closed! There’s just nothing left, and it won’t be too long before Lowe’s closes becuase of the lack of people, and the eventually this mall. Sad…
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Hanna
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Maybe the mall would make it if they employed a new manager who was trained in the business of running a successful mall.
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Kelz
September 20th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
The Aroostook Centre Mall is just horrible, plain and simple! I live here in Presque Isle and I rarely go shopping there. Usually I just go to JcPenney or Sears, The rest of the stores in the mall are pretty useless to me, I think if we had stores like American Eagle, Aeropostale, Old Navy etc…we would see alot more traffic going on! I know I personally make a trip to Bangor every few months for some shopping, and I know many people from this area that do as well because they ‘can’t find anything up here.’
I also think a Target would be nice to bring here as well. Walmart needs some competition! K-mart is no competition thats for sure! Oh well what can ya do….. as for me I will keep taking my trips to Bangor where I know I can find the things we like
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BP
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
At least Aeropostale should come up here, i think out of the 3 (AE, Aero and Old Navy), that would be the one that would found up here. I’ve even found a perfect place for it in the mall, right near JCPenny like where it is in the Bangor Mall. You would see easily 3x the traffic and people there, especially the opening day. It would do VERY WELL here. It’s not too urban-ish like Abercrombie & Fitch and would fit in this mall.
Anyone interested in bringing Aeropostale to the Aroostook Centre Mall?
i might be going out on a limb here but I feel it could do well.
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Sam
October 5th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I agree with everyone else, The place needs to grow and have clothing stores that has quality and names that will fit the taste of young population. We don’t need to travel way down south just to get quality clothing. It’s so nice that Hampton Inn is coming to the city it may attract some retail store to start their business where people from nearby county could stay overnight for shopping.
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Variety House
November 13th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Great site! I lived in Maine for quite a while, and when I heard they were building this thing it seemed like an answer to a question nobody asked. It was hard to pull for the thing when one was wondering if anybody involved in the project had bothered to study a map; still, I hoped for the best…in vain it seems.
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Ben
February 17th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Here is the list of stores currently in the mall (some were deleted because they closed!) as of Februrary 17th:
Acadia Medical Supply (207) 769-2100
Armed Forces Career Center x4 Marines, Army, Navy, Airforce
B. Dalton (207) 764-4656
Bath & Body Works (207) 760-9016
Card $mart (207) 768-5800
Chopsticks (207) 764-6633
DEB (207) 760-9415
Expect More Dollar Store (207) 768-3185
Fashion Bug (207) 764-8537
FYE (207) 764-5979
Gene’s Electronics (207) 764-7500
Houlton Farms Dairy (207) 764-8635
JCPenney (207) 764-2663
Kay Jewelers (207) 764-3351
Kmart (207) 764-3351
Lowe’s Home Improvement Center (207) 554-3030
Maurices (207) 760-9006
Nail Citi (207) 762-6006
Olde Rustic Attic (207) 764-5969
Olympia Sports (207) 764-5211
Payless Kids (207) 764-4929
Payless ShoeSource (207) 764-4929
Rent-A-Center (207) 764-6513
Rocky Mountain Sports (207) 764-8500
Ruby Tuesday (207) 764-2874
Sears (207) 768-2080
Staples (207) 764-4414
The Shoe Dept (207) 764-4140
Tim Horton’s (207) 760-8198
Trader Joe’s (207) 768-3183
Yes, that’s it! Claire’s recently closed leaving another empty store
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