How One Maine Business Owner is Helping to Bring The Auburn Mall Back to Life

We are lucky to have the opportunity to work with Family Time Dine & Play owner Jeff Mitchell on a regular basis.  As he is a smart businessman who also loves living in Maine, the news that he has helped to revitalize the Auburn Mall doesn't surprise us at all.

For years, shopping malls across the country have struggled as online shopping has grown and traditional brick-and-mortar stores have closed. The COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated that trend.

But one Maine mall appears to be bucking the trend.

According to an article on the WCSH 6 website, the Auburn Mall is seeing a surge of new interest after one longtime tenant took to social media to promote available rental spaces. Within weeks, the nearly 50-year-old mall went from being roughly 40% vacant to about 90% full, according to tenant Jeff Mitchell.

READ MORE: New Cafe Coming to the Auburn Mall

Mitchell has been a tenant at the mall for 13 years. He owns Family Time Dine and Play, an arcade, as well as Fluff Me, a build-your-own stuffed toy shop.

In addition to running those businesses, Jeff also runs the mall's Facebook page.

After watching the mall struggle, particularly during the pandemic when several large retailers closed, Mitchell decided to try something different. In July, he posted a list of available spaces along with their rental prices.

The post reached roughly 325,000 people.

Mitchell admitted he didn't run the idea by mall administrative assistant Mary Ann Chandler before posting it.

"And then I did the second post, and as of this moment, I believe there's only one spot left in the mall that has not been leased," Mitchell said.

Chandler wasn't exactly upset about the unauthorized advertising campaign.

"Am I mad at him? No! I want to see this old girl fly," she said.

Among the businesses responding to the social media posts is Angela Bisson, who is moving her thrift and antique store from South Paris to the Auburn Mall. She's already planning another move within the mall, into a larger space currently being prepared for Spirit Halloween. Bisson expects to make that move in December.

While the influx of businesses is good news for the mall, Auburn Economic Development Director Jay Brenchick says it doesn't necessarily mean the region is experiencing new economic growth.

He describes the situation as "kind of a zero-sum game," since many of the businesses moving into the mall are existing businesses relocating rather than brand-new employers coming to the area.

Brenchick says attracting new employers will be important if Auburn wants to see significant long-term economic growth.

The city is currently working on two planning studies, including one focused on Auburn as a whole and another examining the Mount Auburn neighborhood where the mall is located.

Those studies could help determine how the city and mall complex can grow in the future. But Brenchick cautions that major redevelopment won't happen overnight.

"You're really looking at a 5–10-year redevelopment process," he said.

For now, though, the Auburn Mall is getting something it hasn't had much of lately: a little momentum.

And Mitchell and Chandler are hoping to keep it going, one storefront at a time.