WATERVILLE (AP) – Big box retailers are gaining ground in central Maine, a phenomenon that is reshaping the retail landscape.

A Wal-Mart Supercenter is scheduled to open at Waterville Commons next summer. Twenty miles down the road, the Marketplace of Augusta hosts an Old Navy, a Sam’s Club, Home Depot and Barnes & Noble.

Even in second tier service centers, the big boxes have come.

“The big box stores are gaining ground virtually everywhere and for a very good reason: They offer a tremendous selection at a lower price for most people,” said state Planning Office economist Galen Rose.

Maine taxable sales figures released this spring by the planning office show the impact of the big-box stores.

The Waterville economic area, which includes much of northern Kennebec County, boasted an 8.8 percent gain, a significant increase for a region that has seen considerable job loss in recent years, including the demise of C.F. Hathaway Co., which employed about 300 workers.

A Home Depot that opened Waterville in 2002 is credited with increasing taxable sales on building supplies 26.3 percent that year. At the same time, building supplies sales decreased by 5.1 percent in the Skowhegan market and 13.2 percent in the Pittsfield economic region.

The Pittsfield region saw a 25.3 percent surge in general merchandise sales and a 18.8 percent rise in food store purchases, attributed to the expansion of the Palmyra Wal-Mart to a Supercenter in July 2002. In Farmington, where Wal-Mart upgraded into a Supercenter last fall, general merchandise sales increased 7.2 percent but plunged 18.9 percent in the next closest economic region, Livermore Falls.

Town officials say they are concerned that smaller stores are losing business that cannot be easily replaced. “We have to somehow find our niche,” said Skowhegan Town Manager Patricia Dickey, “and we are working aggressively to retain some of the businesses we have, but it is a concern we all have here, because people like a choice.”

The town is marketing Skowhegan’s distinctive qualities in an effort to encourage people to shop in the community.

AP-ES-07-20-03 1031EDT