Marden’s comes to Bangor, Burlington moves down the road

An aerial view shows big low-lying buildings.

Photo / Courtesy Porta & Co. Marden’s, the Winslow-based surplus and salvage retailer, is setting up a store at 229 Springer Drive in Bangor, in a location formerly occupied by New Jersey retailer Burlington.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Marden’s, the Winslow-based surplus and salvage retailer, is setting up a store at 229 Springer Drive in Bangor, in a location formerly occupied by New Jersey retailer Burlington Stores Inc.

The Burlington store has relocated less than a mile south down the road to 6 Bangor Mall Blvd. and is getting ready to open next week.

Marden’s

Marden’s, whose motto is “I should have bought it when I saw it at Marden’s," was started in 1964 by Harold "Mickey" Marden and today has 14 stores in Biddeford, Sanford, Scarborough, Gray, Lewiston, Waterville, Farmington, Brewer, Lincoln, Calais, Houlton, Ellsworth, Presque Isle and Madawaska.

The company employs around 700 people and has annual sales of $140 million. Products include clothing, footwear, hardware, tools, flooring, furniture and fabric.

The retailer bought 229 Springer Drive from Realty Income Corp., NYSE: O, for $3.825 million.

The list price was $4.75 million.

Charles Day of Porta & Co. brokered the transaction.

Realty Income, headquartered in San Diego, Calif., is an S&P 500 company that invests in diversified commercial real estate and manages a portfolio of 15,600 properties in all 50 U.S. states, the U.K. and seven other countries in Europe, according to its website. Its portfolio includes 113 properties in Maine.

The Bangor property comprises an 85,700-square-foot building on 15.87 acres with 375 parking spaces, built in 1992.

The property was on the market for three to four months.

Day represented the seller and found the buyer.

Pretty quick deal

“The deal came together pretty quickly,” Day said.

Burlington was a tenant in the building, its lease was set to expire Sept. 1 and the sale closed the day the lease expired, he said.

“The goal was to close when the lease ended, which we were able to do,” he said.

For Marden’s part, “Upon closing, they took the keys and immediately started work” on improvements, said Day.

The building is in fair to good condition and needs a bit of work, such as the roof and cosmetic improvements, he said.

Attractions of the location include a big parking area, some visibility from I-95, a loading dock area in the back and an outdoor sales area.

Earlier this year, Marden’s opened a store in Farmington.

The 229 Springer Drive listing received two other competing offers, from developers who’d need time to find a tenant, said Day: “Marden’s was ready to move immediately on the deal.”

“A lot of these deals can take a long time," he added. "This one was very efficient and both sides worked together to make it happen quickly. It was the right fit, the right time. It was one of those situations where timing might have been little more important than price.”

Fox Keim, Marden’s general manager, said the store could open in early 2026.

Burlington

Meanwhile, Burlington Stores Inc. will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 26 at its 6 Bangor Mall Blvd. location, leased from Atlantic Capital Partners and part of a two-tenant retail property that also houses Bob’s Discount Furniture.

The national off-price retailer has two stores in Maine and more than 1,115 stores nationwide, according to a news release.

“We’re continuing to expand our footprint across the country and are excited to be opening a new store in Bangor,” said Michael O’Sullivan, the company’s CEO.

The location will have a “reimagined” store layout and a new logo and signage. Updates are part of the company’s initiative to make it easier to navigate the store. About half of the brand’s locations have been converted. The remaining stores are expected to transition to the new format by the end of 2026.

The Fortune 500 company (NYSE: BURL), which is based in Burlington, N.J., is an off-price retailer with fiscal 2024 net sales of $10.6 billion.