Hobby Lobby to Fill Part of Brunswick's Long-Vacant Former Sears Space

Work has begun inside the 82,000-square-foot former Sears shell at Cook's Corner, six years after the department store closed its Brunswick location and left one of the shopping center's most prominent anchor spaces dark.

The Boulos Company, which manages Cook's Corner, confirmed the redevelopment plan: Hobby Lobby will take a portion of the space, with roughly 33,000 square feet carved out and left available for future tenants. That subdivision sets up a potential second phase of leasing activity at a site that has sat vacant since 2020.

Brunswick would become Hobby Lobby's fifth Maine location. The arts and crafts chain already operates stores in Bangor, Waterville, Augusta, and Auburn, and a Cook's Corner outpost would extend its reach into Midcoast Maine, serving shoppers who currently have no location closer than Augusta.

The redevelopment fits a pattern playing out at former Sears properties across the state. In Lewiston, a vacant Sears footprint was converted into a Hannaford supermarket; another location was retooled for a Dick's Sporting Goods. In each case, landlords subdivided oversized big-box shells to attract tenants better suited to the current retail landscape.

Cook's Corner already draws steady traffic from Hannaford, Dollar Tree, TJ Maxx, and Staples. Hobby Lobby brings a retail category not currently represented at the center, which could pull new shoppers into the corridor and benefit neighboring tenants.

For Brunswick's planning department, the redevelopment will trigger permit reviews, parking and circulation assessments, and inspections tied to the buildout. Large interior conversions of this scale typically require building permits and may prompt updates to utilities and signage.

The 33,000 square feet that Hobby Lobby won't occupy leaves The Boulos Company with a significant block of leasable space at one of Brunswick's busiest commercial nodes. What fills that second bay will determine how completely Cook's Corner recovers from the vacancy that has defined the site for the better part of this decade.