Fifty years ago, Peck’s ruled Main Street, and Lisbon Street was lined from end to end with shops. L-A wasn’t a retail backwater then, and it can’t afford to be one today. Yet, in recent years, we wondered whether we were moving in that direction.

The city of Auburn decisively answered that question this week, announcing that it had reached a deal to bring a Kohl’s department store to the site of the old Wal-Mart building.

Over the years, we’ve ceded much of the middle and upper end of the retail market to South Portland and Freeport. We have become a magnet for big-box discounters, but we’ve failed to attract new retailers in the department-store category.

The result has been disheartening. On any given weekend, residents of Lewiston-Auburn and much of western Maine are bumping into each other while shopping far from home.

We used to assume that, eventually, a broader mix of retailers would arrive. Instead, several years ago, we noticed that some of the biggest names in retailing had jumped right over L-A and landed at a new retail complex just north of Augusta.

Apparently, others noticed as well. Local shoppers began complaining to elected officials and economic development agencies, and, to their credit, they listened to the complaints.

Up until the Kohl’s deal, the two cities took a laissez-faire attitude toward retail development. They concentrated on bringing business and industry, assuming that retail would follow.

It didn’t happen. Communities around us began successfully courting retail development and offering tax incentives to sweeten the pot.

Some residents will, we expect, question the need, and even the fairness, of the cities actively soliciting retail business.

We would make two arguments in reply.

First, a healthy shopping economy is necessary for community prosperity. To attract and retain any business, a community must be desirable and offer a range of amenities to employers and their employees.

Having interesting places to shop and eat out helps employers attract top job candidates. Anyone who has tried recruiting new employees to L-A will tell you shopping is part of the mix. Not hosting big-name retailers is a major drawback.

But is it fair to offer a tax break to one retail business, that will then compete with existing businesses?

Our second point: A rising retail market will float more boats. The person who comes into town to shop at a large store like Kohl’s is likely to shop at smaller stores and eat at local restaurants before going home. On the other hand, the person driving to South Portland or Augusta is lost to all.

We hope the Kohl’s deal is the first of many announcements to come. The city of Auburn listened, and it has proposed two complex tax breaks that would eventually pay for roadwork in the area and site preparation for the Kohl’s project and another development. No existing property taxes would be touched, and, thanks to the breaks, far more in property taxes will come to Auburn’s coffers in the future.

In a perfect world, nobody would have to offer tax cuts to make things happen. However, with other communities offering such inducements, L-A must get into the race and be willing to compete.

Auburn is making an investment in attracting Kohl’s. We think it’s an investment that will pay handsome dividends in the long run.