It’s not Lisbon, but it is next door.

Four years after the town rallied to attract Renys, the department store will open in neighboring Topsham.

The new store is taking up 32,000 square feet in the former Village Candle, President John Reny said. It’s tentatively set to open the third week of August.

He said between 40 and 50 people have been hired, some full time and some part time. More than 300 turned out at a job fair.

“We think Topsham is going to be a good location,” Reny said. “It is right down the road from Lewiston and I know people have been screaming for us up there, (in) Lewiston and Lisbon Falls, for a long time.”

In 2007, Lisbon residents hung a banner — “We want Renys” — and collected 1,000 signatures trying to woo the discounter.

“It just didn’t really work out for us, but this will be a good alternative I think, and close enough to them,” Reny said Tuesday.

The new location in the Topsham Fair Mall will be one of the chain’s larger stores and its 16th location.

“At first we worried it was a little too close to Bath; it may effect that a little bit,” he said. “We think it’s going to open a whole new (market) both from the south and the north.”

A grand opening is planned.

“We do it up right,” Reny said. “There’s only two big days in business, that’s when you go in business and when you go out of business.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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