By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The St. Lawrence Centre Mall is losing yet another tenant.

Arby’s will close on July 31 according to storeowner Carl Lofberg.

He also owns the Potsdam Arby’s and said that store will remain open.

He says the decision to close the Massena location is based on the state’s minimum wage increase, Affordable Care Act mandates and the loss of mall anchor stores.

“In the past, we’d keep stores in marginal locations open just to keep people employed, but the government has made it hard to do that … with the increase in minimum wage and the Affordable Care Act,” Lofberg said.

The state has been ratcheting up the minimum wage since 2013, which will stop when it hits $9 per hour on Dec. 31. It is now at $8.75.

The Affordable Care Act, which some call Obamacare, next year will require employers to provide health insurance coverage their full-time employees. The Massena Arby’s has four full-timers, Lofberg said.

He said when Sears closed, he saw his business drop by about 20 percent.

“The anchor store draws customers to the mall and other stores feed off the customers … it was a nail in the coffin when Sears left,” he said.

Furthermore, Lofberg attributes some of his loss of business to a decrease in value of the Canadian dollar.

Lofberg also owns the Potsdam Arby’s, which is not on the chopping block, and said he offered the Massena store’s four full-timers and three part-timers new positions, but doesn’t know if it will work for them.

“We’ve offered them, but it’s hard with families,” he said. “We’re trying and fitting them in if we can, if they can get there (Potsdam.)”

He also operates three Arby’s in Jefferson County.