PORT ANGELES — One of downtown Port Angeles’ most visible storefronts will be empty next month after Maurices on First Street moves to larger digs along U.S. Highway 101.
“We just know that the people of Port Angeles deserve to have a bigger, newer store,” Maurices store manager Corene Wickland said Tuesday.
Wickland said the last day Maurices, a women’s clothing store, will be open at 104 W. First St. will be July 13.
The store will reopen at 5 p.m. July 18 in the space that once held the Fashion Bug clothing store in the Safeway shopping center at 2743 E. U.S. Highway 101.
After the soft opening in the new location, the grand opening will be the next day at 10 a.m., Wickland said.
Maurices then will maintain normal business hours from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, Wickland said.
Darrel Vincent, the retired Port Angeles broker who owns the building that Maurices will vacate, said he was sorry to lose the tenant.
“I hate to see them go, and I hate to see them leave the downtown area,” Vincent said Tuesday.
He has not yet sought a new tenant for the space, which is adjacent to Conrad Dyar Memorial Fountain at Laurel Street, because he made an agreement with Maurices Inc. not to advertise the building for rent until July.
He said he has no intention of selling the building at this time.
The decision to move Maurices out of downtown was made at the corporate level, Wickland said.
Company officials felt the spot along Highway 101, with its larger parking area and 1,000 additional square feet of retail space, would be more accessible to residents who frequent the store.
Officials at the Duluth, Minn.-based Maurices Inc. believe downtown primarily serves tourists, according to Wickland.
“We’re out to better service the community, not just tourists,” Wickland said.
Maurices Inc. owns more than 800 stores in 44 states, according to the company’s website.
The Port Angeles Maurices will be able to offer an expanded plus-sized section in the new space, Wickland said, and will move into a completely renovated store with dressing rooms decked out with chandeliers and crystal doorknobs.
“When you see it, you’ll know,” Wickland said.
“It’s nothing like [the current] store.”
Although Maurices’ staying in Port Angeles is a positive, Barb Frederick, executive director of the Port Angeles Downtown Association, said she’s sad to see such a downtown staple leave First Street.
“Maurices’ leaving will bring a big hole to downtown,” Frederick said, “not just in an empty space, but in merchandise.”
Frederick said Maurices always has been a great downtown partner over the decade the store has been at its current location, citing, in particular, the store’s windows.
“I think they serve as a [model] for downtown in their professionalism and the way they do window displays,” Frederick said.
Maurices will be the second storefront in recent months to vacate downtown.
Don Zeller closed shop at Zeller’s Antiques just west of Maurices at the end of April and moved his business to Nevada.
It’s the nature of downtown areas to be fluid and see businesses come and go, Frederick said.
“I don’t think this is a trend,” she said.
“I don’t know of any other businesses leaving at this time.”
Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce, agreed that Maurices’ leaving does not seem to be part of a trend, though he said the clothing store’s leaving definitely will be noticeable downtown.
“I hope it doesn’t stay empty for very long because it’s a very high-visibility area,” Veenema said.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
