BANGOR – Ever since the “For Sale” sign appeared on the side of the Brown & White Paper Co. store a month ago, many customers have started to call ahead before driving to Larkin Street for a shopping trip.

“When I answer the phone most will say, ‘Oh, you are still there,'” said Theresa Brown, the store’s manager. Once patrons stop in they are always eager to learn the fate of the business, she said.

The building is for sale, but the business is still open and will relocate if the property sells, said owner Mike Reed. The store is slightly set back from Main Street, and the site does not provide the best visibility for a business. When the store is sold and the business relocates, Reed has considered moving to Brewer or near the Bangor Mall and Stillwater Avenue, he said.

“What we found is our location isn’t giving us any new customers,” Reed said.

Brown & White is housed in the former Larkin Street School, which shut down in 1968. The six-room schoolhouse was built in 1907. The paper company, previously located on Broad Street, purchased the school in 1969. Reed bought the building in the 1980s and used it as a wholesale and discount store, he said. At the time he owned Reed Paper Co. in Lewiston, and over time Brown & White became known as “the party store.”

“We definitely want to sell the building [because it] isn’t really conducive to what we want to do,” said Reed, who now lives in Arizona. “In the meantime, we’ve got a business that is running, and it’s a viable business, so we’re not desperate to do anything.”

The old red brick schoolhouse needs work, Reed said, and some prospective buyers have mentioned rehabilitating the building and using it as a brew pub restaurant, offices, or elderly housing.

Bangor patrons often enter the store and reminisce about their time spent in the neighborhood school.

“A lot of people come in and think the building is really cool,” said Brown. “Or some will say, ‘Oh I used to go to school here.'”

While relocation is the plan, Brown said business has been down the past two years. The store has seen more competition since iParty moved onto Stillwater Avenue, and larger chain stores began selling small selections of paper party goods, she said. The store serves Greater Bangor, but with the high gas and heating oil prices, many people are shopping online, while others simply are not spending money on party products.

“It’s a lot of fun to have party goods, but when gas and oil started to rise, people started cutting the nonessentials,” Brown said.