SCARBOROUGH (AP) – The Maine-based music store chain Bull Moose Music is opening a large warehouse and store in Scarborough.

The new 10,000-square foot building is on Payne Road across from Wal-Mart.

It will hold 150,000 CDs, tapes and DVDs, more than three times as many as in any of Bull Moose’s stores, said Chris Brown, vice president for operations and marketing.

The business is scheduled to open by July 24.

The warehouse will hold new and used merchandise for the chain’s nine Bull Moose stores in Maine and New Hampshire.

The stock will also be available for shoppers to browse and buy, Brown said.

For music lovers, the store will offer a much greater variety of musical styles. Up to this point, Bull Moose has ordered CDs from distributors shipped directly to specific stores to cater to each area’s distinct tastes.

French-Canadian fiddle music, for instance, is ordered specifically for the Lewiston store, and Latin music is often ordered for the Salem, N.H., store because of a Hispanic community nearby.

When the new warehouse opens, all the CDs ordered by Bull Moose will be stored in the warehouse, as well as all the used CDs Bull Moose buys from its customers.

The store will face competition from a number of nearby suburban competitors, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and the Maine Mall.

“There are a lot of people who are already in the area to buy music, so they’ll see the Bull Moose sign and come check it out,” said Brown.

The first Bull Moose was opened in Brunswick in 1989 by Wickard, then a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

One of Wickard’s first employees was another Bowdoin student, Brown.

Today Wickard is the president of the company and Brown is the vice president.

Bull Moose has stores in Brunswick, Portland, Lewiston, North Windham, Sanford, Waterville, Bangor, Salem, N.H. and Portsmouth, N.H.

AP-ES-07-02-03 1040EDT