One of the larger retail stores inside Towne Mall will close today, Jan. 15.

Dunham’s Sports, which was founded in 1937 and opened a location in Middletown about 10 years ago, is closing at 9 p.m. today, store officials said.

Several employees Monday were boxing up merchandise and preparing to ship it to corporate headquarters. No one at the Towne Mall location would discuss the closing, referring all questions to the corporate office in Michigan.

Numerous phone calls to the company’s media representative were not returned to The Journal.

Dunham’s lease had expired, and a Dunham representative wanted to negotiate a new, lower lease, according to George Ragheb, one of four partners with SA Mary LLC and Bless Properties LLC, which purchased the Towne Mall property for $850,000 in November.

Saying he was “hungry, not desperate,” Ragheb refused Dunham’s offer.

“We are not here to give the place away,” he said and refused to release details of Dunham’s current lease or its offer.

Ragheb said within 60 to 90 days, the mall would announce “very, very good tenants.” He said Kay’s and Roger’s, the mall’s two jewelry stores, have renewed their leases.

Trisha Hale, general manager of the Towne Mall, said she couldn’t comment on Dunham’s closing. She did say that three new tenants have signed leases at Towne Mall — two retail businesses and one restaurant.

Hale would not name the businesses, only saying, “the future here is bright.”

Dunham’s has more than 180 locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Nebraska, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

After the Towne Mall location closes, the nearest Dunham’s locations will be in Springfield, Ohio and West Alexandria, Ky.