After 34 years, U-Haul closes branch in Cooks Corner, Brunswick
Courtesy / U-Haul via Facebook
The U-Haul location at 173 Bath Road, Brunswick, has permanently closed after beginning operations in 1986.
After more than three decades of helping residents, businesses, Bowdoin College students and other do-it-yourself movers schlep from one place to another, U-Haul operations in Cooks Corner, Brunswick, have moved on — permanently.
The iconic Nevada company, which offers moving truck rentals, moving supplies, storage and more at 22,000 U.S. and Canadian branches, recently closed the one at 173 Bath Road, according to a news release.
Three employees were laid off as a result, U-Haul said. The company plans to maintain ownership and lease the property to a new tenant.
The Cooks Corner facility had been open since 1986. Four years ago, U-Haul opened a new facility less than 3 miles away, at 1 Cressey Road, the former Arrow-Hart Corp. electrical equipment plant. There’s also a U-Haul site in Brunswick at 91 Gurnet Road.
The company operates about 80 locations in Maine. U-Haul dealers are not franchises, but operate in a cost-sharing arrangement with the company.
U-Haul International Inc. is a subsidiary of Amerco (Nasdaq: UHAL), which reported yearly sales of $4 billion and currently has a market capitalization of $7.1 billion. U-Haul was founded in 1945 by L.S. "Sam" Shoen, a recently discharged Navy veteran who had been unable to rent a trailer for moving his young family from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore.
Before U-Haul purchased the Arrow-Hart site in Brunswick, the 186,293-square-foot building had sat vacant for five years, after more than 35 years of operation. The acquisition was driven by a corporate sustainability initiative to support infill development and help local communities lower their carbon footprints, according to U-Haul.
“It's the largest building in the area, so it's important it doesn't become an eyesore,” U-Haul Co. of Maine President Jon Hynes said in a statement at the time of the new branch’s opening.
U-Haul declined to provide more explanation about the reason for the Cooks Corner closing, but said shutterings are often the result of proximity to another branch, demographic shifts and physical plant limitations.
The company has remained open throughout the pandemic, but has been adversely affected by changes in consumer behavior and travel restrictions imposed by states, according to an annual report published in July.
Editor's Note: A reader contacted Mainebiz to say that the headquarters of U-Haul and its parent company, Amerco, are in Phoenix. However, the company is registered in Reno, Nev., and the story stands as written.
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