By Molly Lovell
Staff Writer

Fifteen-year-old Janica Cole said she didn’t know who to believe when she heard rumors at school Monday that Stop & Shop in Kennebunk was slated to close.
The sophomore at Kennebunk High School works at the store part-time every Sunday.
“I cried when I found out,” she said.
In an action that appeared to surprise both residents and town officials, Stop & Shop announced Monday it would close its Kennebunk store Oct. 30, leaving 140 full and part-time employees out of work.
The Kennebunk store, which opened in June 2007, is the only Stop & Shop in Maine and the only one out of the 383 stores the company is closing nationwide. Stop & Shop headquarters is located in Quincy, Mass with stores in New England and New York and New Jersey. It has been in business for more than 90 years.
In a prepared statement, Senior Vice President Mark McGowan apologized for the inconvenience to customers and said the company would work with local and state agencies to support displaced employees.
The company also decided to discontinue a mixed-use development in Portland, citing the economic climate.
Cole said a supervisor at the store called her house about 2 p.m. Monday to notify her of two company-wide staff meetings at 3 and 6 p.m., and that she needed to attend one of them.
“They said they were letting people go to the New Hampshire stores. I asked what the 15 year olds were supposed to do,” she said.
Supervisors told Cole she could come back for a one-on-one interview. The staff meeting lasted 15 minutes, she said.
Cole was told employees could continue working at the store until Dec. 5. The store will close to the public Oct. 30.
Cole said she was told by a supervisor the economy was to blame for the closure, not the store itself.
Citing a lack of jobs for young people in the Kennebunk area, Cole said she might try to find a restaurant or retail job in Wells, but still isn’t sure what her next step will be.
Dan Bowen has operated Garden Street Market in Kennebunk for nearly 14 years and said he was surprised about the closure, but not entirely taken aback.
“It’s just a big store,” he said of Stop & Shop.
“Our focus has always been to take care of the customers who shop here. We have a loyal core group of folks,” he said.
Bowen didn’t want to speculate why the store stayed open only two years, but said the company should have had the resources to produce research about whether the store would be successful.
Karen Duddy, spokesman for the Kennebunk/Kennebunkport Chamber of Commerce, said rumors circulated a year ago the store would close.
“The chamber is always very sorry to see a business leave town,” she said.
Duddy said The Shops at Long Bank is a “beautifully designed” plaza and hopes other businesses will consider moving in.
Other stores at the plaza include Kennebunk Toy Company, a salon and a Verizon Wireless store.
Kennebunk resident John Costin said even though he was an opponent of the development he, too, regrets the closure.
“I see nothing to be happy about in this news. Sadly, workers at the Stop & Shop and perhaps other businesses in the mall will be losing their jobs. As with all job losses, this will have a multiplier effect in our local economy as they decrease their spending,” Costin said.
In 2005, Costin was a member of a citizen’s initiative to limit retail stores to 35,000 square feet. He said the developers, Great Island Development, launched a public relations campaign against the referendum and in support of the proposed 65,000 square-foot Stop & Shop market and 18,000 square-feet of tenant space.
“The Economic Development Committee, of which I was a member at the time, began strategizing in secret to defeat the referendum. The secrecy was in order to keep myself and other committee members out of the loop,” Costin said.
The referendum was defeated by a vote of 2,750 to 1,788.
Telephone lines at Great Island Development remained busy as of press time.
Costin said he fears residents will pay the price of Stop & Shop’s failure in town.
“I also fear that, in an effort to deflect criticism and staunch the flow of cash, town management, selectmen, and economic development leaders will grasp at some new, hastily-conceived and equally ill-considered plan for the site,” he said.
“If there is one lesson in all of this, it is that real economic development requires community participation, foresight and planning, not just throwing town resources behind any scheme that saunters in promising a free ride,” Costin said.

Molly Lovell can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 223.