The Children’s Place apparel store in Bend’s Old Mill District will close in January or February and will be replaced by The Buckle Inc., a store that caters to young adults, said Noelle Fredland, the Old Mill’s marketing director.

The Children’s Place did not renew its lease at the Old Mill, Fredland said.

“It is imminent, but it is kind of a little bit heartbreaking,” she said, adding that Children’s Place employees have been “so excited about sales” recently.

A manager at the store Tuesday declined to comment. Neither company responded to several voice mail messages from The Bulletin about the changes, and it was not clear at press time whether The Children’s Place store will move to another location in Central Oregon.

The Children’s Place has been an Old Mill District tenant since retail stores opened there in 2001, according to Bulletin archives. The Secaucus, N.J.-based company, which sells clothing, shoes and accessories for newborns, babies and young children, has four stores in the Portland area, an outlet in Woodburn and other Oregon locations, according to the company’s website.

The Buckle, based in Kearney, Neb., targets “fashion-conscious young men and women” and offers an exclusive brand of denim, BKE, according to a description of the company in a recent news release. The Buckle has stores in Eugene, Happy Valley, Medford and Salem, according to the company’s website.

The city of Bend earlier this month received a building permit application for an estimated $240,000 in commercial-remodeling work at the 4,400-square-foot space on Southwest Powerhouse Drive.

Building plans show intentions to demolish walls, furniture and floors and replace them with new materials.

The Old Mill District has tended to have the lowest vacancy rate among the commercial areas in Bend in the past few years, generally between 1 and 4 percent, according to quarterly reports from Compass Commercial Real Estate Services in Bend.

Still, stores have closed in the shopping area, including Allyson’s Kitchen and Ann Taylor Loft earlier this year. But Ginger’s Kitchenware and Mio Sushi replaced the space occupied by Allyson’s Kitchen. The other space remains vacant, said Marcelene Trujillo, the Old Mill’s marketing associate. A Savory Spice Shop Inc. store is under construction in part of a previously vacant space next to Ginger’s Kitchenware, Trujillo said.

Both The Children’s Place and The Buckle are publicly traded. The Children’s Place stock on Nasdaq closed at $45.62 on Tuesday, while The Buckle’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $39.40.