Officials in Lewiston and Auburn decided a few years ago that luring businesses to their cities was tough enough without fighting each other as well.

So they joined forces, deciding the goal was to get companies to locate in one of the two cities, without so much concern about which one.

ÒWeÕre stronger together than we are separately,Ó said Paul Badeau, spokesman for the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council.

The joint effort has helped transform the two communities from down-at-the-heels former mill towns into growing centers of commerce that have a reputation for greeting new businesses with open arm. In just the last five years, Wal-Mart built a distribution center in Lewiston, Portland-based TD Banknorth has filled part of a former mill building with offices and Auburn is banking on having the headquarters for the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway to create a transportation hub for the region

The result is an unemployment rate for the Lewiston-Auburn metropolitan area of 4.5 percent in December, compared with 7.2 percent for Rumford, another mill town, according to figures from the Maine Department of Labor.

In general, central MaineÕs economy has been flat Ð or, to put it more charitably, stable Ð for a couple of decades. Steady or rising employment in state and federal government positions in Augusta tended to offset the losses of manufacturing jobs, which have been in steady decline across the state.

But these days, there are signs of life, and not just in Lewiston and Auburn.

Retail activity has been growing, call centers are employing hundreds and a number of companies are just starting to find commercial success in composites, products that can be used in place of wood or fiberglass in everything from boats to architectural pieces. The gains represent momentum for a region that has been essentially treading water for years.

ÒSuccess breeds success,Ó said Laurie Lachance, president and chief executive officer of the Maine Development Foundation and a former state economist.

ThatÕs true in retail activity, which has boomed in the region in the last few years.

It wasnÕt that long ago that residents of central Maine would head to the Maine Mall in South Portland or turn north to the Bangor Mall for shopping. ThereÕs no longer a need to travel very far, with large retail centers in Augusta and Topsham

ÒThereÕs been a massive build-up of retail in a way we would never have envisioned,Ó Lachance said.

Critics of the national retail chains, particularly Wal-Mart, point out that the retailerÕs pay doesnÕt provide a living wage for a family and many workers donÕt get enough hours to qualify for benefits such as health insurance.

Lachance said, however, that the jobs and pay are decent for college students, mothers re-entering the work force or retirees looking to supplement pensions.

ÒWould you want to build your entire economic base on retail? Probably not, but does it help to have these (job) opportunities? Yes, it does,Ó she said.

Much of the retail boom, she said, comes from chains that follow the lead of Wal-Mart, which caters to clusters of rural communities and offers low prices attractive to people living in low-wage areas. That trend has been duplicated in many of the more than 20 Maine towns where Wal-Mart has opened stores since the mid-1990s.

ÒThey enter the market and they build and before you know it, theyÕre surrounded by other big-box stores,Ó Lachance said. Wal-Mart only entered the state in the early 1990s, and Òtheir rapid build-out took them from zero locations in Maine to one of the top five employers in a very short time.Ó

Likewise, call center jobs have been derided for many of the same reasons, but they also provide opportunities, especially for people looking for flexible hours built around college classes or other jobs. The jobs include telemarketing, but call centers are increasingly geared toward providing support for computer and cell phone customers, jobs that require more skills and pay better.

One of the largest operations is T-MobileÕs center in Oakland, where the work force is nearing 700.

Badeau said central Maine is doing better these days because the cost of doing business in the region is much less than it is in southern Maine and southern New England, and the disadvantage of being a little further from Boston or the mid-Atlantic is slight. Local governments make it even easier with streamlined permitting that allows businesses to get started quickly.

He said that helps businesses grow fast. For instance, Wal-Mart committed to providing 425 jobs when it announced it would build a distribution center in Lewiston. Now, Badeau said, employment has reached 600 and is expected to top out at 800, and the jobs start at $13.75 an hour, plus benefits.

Badeau also noted that Auburn just broke ground on a 144-acre industrial park, suggesting officials think their business population will grow more.

All the growth hasnÕt decimated downtowns, Lachance said. Much of Lewiston and AuburnÕs growth has been in renovated downtown mills, and Waterville and Gardiner have been working on redeveloping their downtowns. TheyÕve been able to sustain businesses there despite nearby big-box national chains, she said.

But, she added, all the growth is a little precarious if the region doesnÕt generate more solid, higher-paying jobs.

ÒThe reverse could occur and if we find thereÕs not enough income in the community. É A vacant storefront or a vacant big box is not a very attractive and upbeat thing to see,Ó Lachance said. ÒThe trick is to supplement it with the rest of the plan, to attract those higher-paying jobs and focusing educational opportunities in the region to train people for higher-skill jobs. There has to be more to it than, ÔLetÕs grow retail.Õ Ó

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at: emurphy@pressherald.com