NORWAY – Rising oil prices and the inability to expand their business at its present site led the Dead River Co. convenience store and gas station to close Monday.

The longtime fixture on routes 26 and 117 at the Paris-Norway town line shut its doors Monday.

Alan Dorr, general manager of convenience stores for the Portland-based Dead River Co., said all 10 full-time employees have been offered new jobs at a store in Gray, but part-time employees were laid off.

“This was a very difficult decision,” Dorr said. “We have some very valuable employees there. It was a tough decision we had to make.”

The closure did not come unexpectedly, Dorr said.

“The store has been a challenging location for the past several years. It was never in a healthy position,” said Dorr of the triangle-shaped site that did not provide optimum accessibility for motorists. Because the Richmond Company, builders of the proposed Walgreens pharmacy, purchased all the land behind the Dead River Co. site, it became impossible to expand, he said.

“There was always little hope of expanding it,” Dorr said. There are three adjacent properties, including a business and residence that surrounded the site.

The Dead River site was eyed by the Richmond Company last year to complete its site search for a new Walgreens store, but Dorr said the Massachusetts-based development company could not come to terms with Dead River Co.

“They undervalued it,” said Dorr, who noted that he would not be surprised to see the Richmond Company come back and make a bid on the site. Without that piece of land, Walgreens faces a barrier between the pharmacy and an uninhibited view from motorists at the intersection.

David LaTulippe of the Richmond Company said Friday that construction is set to begin in November and the issue of the Dead River site has been a dead issue for some time. He could not be reached for comment about the Dead River store closing on Monday.

Dennis Gray, chairman of the Norway Planning Board, said if the Richmond Company purchased the parcel, it could proceed with construction as already approved by the Planning Board as long as there were no major changes to the site plan.

A selling price has not been determined for the parcel, Dorr said.

Norway’s was one of about 20 convenience stores Dead River operates from Mexico-Rumford to Caribou. The company started a business at the site in the early 1990s with a home heating business.