Ward Bros. Inc. will close its doors after more than 60 years as one of Maine’s premier women’s clothing stores, according to a letter mailed this week to its creditors.

“We regret to inform you that, due to poor sales and rising costs, Ward Bros. Inc. has defaulted on its obligations to its secured lender, Maine Savings Bank,” said the unsigned letter. “… MSB has sold all of the inventory to a liquidator, who is presently conducting a sale at the Maine Mall and Bangor Mall locations.”

Ward Bros. was founded six decades ago in downtown Lewiston. It later opened stores in South Portland and Bangor. The company was purchased in November 1987 by a group of southern Maine investors affiliated with the Shelter Group of Lewiston.

Citing a decline in shoppers, Ward Bros. closed its Lewiston store in mid-1989 and moved to the Auburn Mall. But the company ceased operations at that location early this year.

In April 1989, Ward Bros. purchased Sterns Department Store, an old-line Waterville retailer. This spring, Ward Bros. announced its Waterville store would close for renovations. The store never reopened.

Linda and Susan Nadeau managed the day-to-day affairs of Ward Bros. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A secretary referred calls to Stephen Griswold at the Shelter Group, who also was unavailable.

“We have made the best efforts to continue this 60-year-old, locally owned business as a going concern, but the retail economy has made our efforts futile, causing us and our creditors losses we did not anticipate,” Ward Bros. said in its letter to creditors. “We thank you for your support and are saddened to have to inform you of the termination of our business.”

Maine Savings Bank sold the Ward Bros. inventory to Gordon Bros. of Boston. Alan Miller, an employee of Gordon, will conduct the going-out-of-business sale at the two remaining Ward Bros. locations.

“We are going to be liquidating the Bangor and South Portland stores of merchandise,” said Miller. “There is a considerable amount of merchandise in Ward Bros. warehouses; we have to get it out (to the stores) in the next five or six days.”

Miller said Gordon Bros. is hiring people to ticket the inventory and hopes to begin the sale within the next few weeks.

People who are owed money by Ward Bros. are not likely to be repaid, according to the letter from Ward Bros. to its creditors.

“All of the proceeds of the foreclosure sale must be paid to the bank to reduce secured debt,” the letter said. “Ward Bros. has no assets with which to pay trade creditors.”