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Antnee83 t1_j3z5asc wrote

> RUMFORD (WGME) -- Marden's has decided to close its Rumford location, citing ongoing safety issues not addressed by the store's landlord.

Ooooh, I love a good safety issue, wonder what it was

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xrayjack t1_j40yr10 wrote

Roof has multiple leaks. Everytime it rains or gets warm during winter. Walk into the store and there are a large number of tarps and catch basins throughout the store.

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sacredblasphemies t1_j40ktuf wrote

Could this be one of LePage's horcruxes?

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Right_In_The_Tits t1_j411c18 wrote

People say that LePage is financially linked to Mardens but I have never seen any proof. Not defending LePage, but if there are no links between him and Mardens then it's just stupid misinformation. Mardens actually has that as a question on their FAQ

https://www.mardens.com/faqs/

>Marden’s is wholly owned by the Marden family. [Former piece of shit] Governor LePage worked for the Marden family as the GM of Marden’s from 1996 through 2010. He never did, and does not now, own any part of the company

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illevirjd t1_j418tyv wrote

How does working as the GM for 14 years NOT link him to Marden’s? I’ll grant you that he never owned any part of the company, but it looks like you quoted the proof you’ve been looking for.

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Right_In_The_Tits t1_j41bu09 wrote

He does not receive any profits, though. That's what people are concerned about: shopping there and LeFuckhead gets a piece.

I'll edit my comment to say "linked financially."

I don't know anything about him back in 1996, but I am sure he was less crazy then.

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DrMcMeow t1_j3zieoy wrote

the whole plaza is for sale, current owner prolly doesn't want to put any money into maintenance if they can help it.

https://i.imgur.com/tAyaO8t.png

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j4191g0 wrote

People love to cry about the “shelf life” of both solar and wind energy, but these strip mall structures barely have 25 years of an expected life. That isn’t even including the shelf life of a parking lot that is larger than the physical building.

Most of these were built 25-35 years ago, for big box convenience, and the upkeep is too expensive for anyone to care. These structures are starting to blight and rot across the country.

Look at most of the big box / massive parking lots. Almost all the drop ceilings are brown from rain water, parking lots are a disaster with no paint, and no one is improving these structures. Almost of half of these structures in Bangor are either abandoned or are about to be and on purpose. These landowners are purposely letting the structures rot to devalue themselves and neighboring land for acquisition / tax purposes.

This isn’t a Maine issue but a country issue, we chased the cheapest price for everything so we can have more and let businesses get subsidized by our dollars. Now that the profit has been extracted they’re moving to different investments and leaving our car-centric “commercial shopping centers” to blight towns and cities.

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[deleted] t1_j42gwi3 wrote

[deleted]

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WalkerBRiley t1_j42y4ui wrote

Really should demo the entire plazas and let nature reclaim it. Or turn them into city parks. Or SOMETHING that isn't acres of empty asphalt.

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[deleted] t1_j4383j4 wrote

[deleted]

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j467gar wrote

That isn’t our reality. Our reality is that there hasn’t been any new tenants in many of these structures and many current tenants are renting shithole end-lifecycle properties.

Easiest example is the Airport Mall in Bangor. Every drop panel is brown from water damage at the dollar store, and 90% of it is vacant. The Bangor mall has like 4 out of possible 40 tenants. The landowner will keep running it into the ground and shorting the value of neighboring structures.

These landowners waiting for “someone to bite” are creating blight and butterfly effects the surrounding community. Blaming blightingly buildings on the lack of tenants is like a vacuum salesman blaming the customer on not wanting to buy a vacuum.

All of these pseudo-commercial shopping districts are heavily subsidized by the taxpayer, from the wasted land use within the city limits, to the extra road/sewer/power maintenance. Rather than incentivizing the repairing of these structures, it’s incentivized to just build more 30-year big boxes and let the old ones rot.

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[deleted] t1_j46m6md wrote

[deleted]

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j46oab3 wrote

Just as the energy industry is accountable for their life-cycles, footprint, infrastructure impact, future big box stores need the same accountability. It should be incentivized to refurbish and repurpose and decentivitized to blight for hedging tax recoup into portfolios.

Building without contributing to road / sidewalk infrastructure, building without contributing to the expansion of services, building and blighting without consequences needs to go. These buildings created in the 80s and 90s are destroying communities and driving further why Maine and other big box centric infrastructure across the country have brain drain issues

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Seppdizzle t1_j3z648b wrote

Ahh dang, I wanted to check that out.

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Antnee83 t1_j3z8e3p wrote

Well thank goodness you didn't. Safety issue and all. Count your blessings that you avoided the safety issue.

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OustedStrongman t1_j3z95af wrote

Impossible to find a different building in Rumford to escape that safety issue.

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Antnee83 t1_j40qfm5 wrote

I was gonna drive to work today but.... safety issue.

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Cosmoplasma t1_j41qfc6 wrote

Roof hasn’t been repaired since it was a Zayre

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6byfour t1_j43ruxm wrote

I once got a couple of winter jackets in reflective safety yellow for $8 each at Mardens. I gave one to my dad and I wear one to snowblow the driveway.

It still stands as one of the greatest achievements of my life.

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freetheroux t1_j41bwvg wrote

Worst mardens by far. All the other mardens at least had some decent stuff mixed in with the garbage, this mardens was just all garbage

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sligeach1918 t1_j42gfsf wrote

All good things must come to an end

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Slmmnslmn t1_j42zf73 wrote

Hows Rumford lately? Been years since ive been through.

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RancidHorseJizz t1_j43v98e wrote

The Rumford Symphony Orchestra is offering an all-Mozart season and the Fine Arts Museum is hosting a Van Gogh exhibit this summer.

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Slmmnslmn t1_j44io9l wrote

I usually summer in Milan, but will try Rumford this year.

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JEMColorado t1_j44bjxn wrote

Does anyone know if Farrington's in South China is still around?

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PS_TIM t1_j42uo86 wrote

Paul Lepage in shambles

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YolksOnU t1_j41adn9 wrote

And nothing of value was lost. Marden's was one thing 20, 30 years ago, selling surplus and salvage was one thing when most products, in general, were higher quality than today. Now everything they sell is insanely cheap Chinese-made trash that just happened to be salvage.

The only things worth buying there are tarps and carpet. Anything else you're getting ripped off by paying money for it at all.

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xrayjack t1_j41wppz wrote

Chains, rope, nuts and bolts l. It was my go to for that stuff. Kids clothes occasionally.

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SpreadAccomplished16 t1_j42ctxy wrote

Yeah they still get the occasional shipment of monitors/other tech, furniture is okay if you look. Flooring is super cheap by the foot. Carpeting, kids toys, etc.

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j46ibg7 wrote

As long as people keep buying Chinese-made trash from Amazon and Walmart, Marden’s will be prosperous.

Quality is a thing of the past in the United States. Most things have no competitors.

Are you going to buy a wooden spoon with hair made by a Granny in the county for your daughter or are you going to buy the latest Barbie or Disney princess made in China? We as a country are addicted to chinesium: buy, use once, trash.

Are you going to buy the Restoration Hardware couch made in North Carolina, or are you going to buy the chinesium dupe on Amazon for 1/2 the cost?

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ScenePlayful1872 t1_j3z96hy wrote

Oh, Safety, not because it’s too up-scale. Last year, there was an Ollie’s store somewhere that had to briefly close because mice were dropping out of the ceiling.

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razor_sharp_pivots t1_j40ezg4 wrote

Wait, you go to Mardens looking for an "upscale" shopping experience? I think your expectations are the problem here.

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DO_initinthewoods t1_j40xat3 wrote

Hey dont get me wrong, but taking the ol' lady to Marden's makes a pretty good date night

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Antnee83 t1_j40zozh wrote

My wife and I went on our first date by going to see The Hobbit when it first screened, then KFC after to talk about it

A cheap first date is a wonderful filter for shitty people.

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solarsherpa t1_j3zhs4x wrote

Ollie's dreams of the day it's half as good as Mardens!

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