AUBURN – A portion of the old Service Merchandise building will be home to Dollar Tree, a discount merchandiser where everything is priced at $1.
About 12,500 square feet of space will be used for the new retailer, out of the 42,000 square feet available at the old Service Merchandise store on Center Street. A representative of Atlantic Retail in Boston, the realty brokers for the Auburn Plaza company, said it will continue looking for tenants for the remainder of the building.
Dollar Tree, based in Chesapeake, Va., is on a growth spurt. In July of this year, it reported an 18.7 percent increase in retail space from a year ago. The company controls 22 million square feet of retail space with 2,856 stores in 48 states. It expects sales of $3.3 billion this year.
A building permit was issued by the Planning Department July 29 for construction at the new store. Work includes building a new wall and cutting a new door in the exterior.
Merchandise in a Dollar Tree typically includes candy, food, health and beauty products, housewares, toys, hardware, greeting cards and seasonal items.
A Family Dollar store is just a few doors down at the Auburn Plaza. Assistant Manager Theresa Fortin said she’s not worried about the new neighbors, since the two stores have different inventories and prices.
“I think of us as an old-fashioned 5 and 10 store – we have a little bit of everything,” she said, noting that not everything in Family Dollar is priced $1. “I don’t think they’ll hurt us at all. They’ll bring more foot traffic for everyone.”
The Service Merchandise building has been closed since the spring of 1999.
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