One of the flagship department stores at the Maine Mall will close next year because of a pending merger between its parent company and another major department store company.

Filene’s, which opened in the Maine Mall in 1983, will operate through the 2005 holiday season, but will close next year.

The proposed merger of Federated Department Stores, which owns Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, and May Department Stores, which owns Filene’s and Lord & Taylor, will result in the closure of dozens of Filene’s locations around New England.

Federated has said it intends to expand the Macy’s name by renaming the stores owned by May and closing those that exist in the same location, such as the Maine Mall where a Filene’s and a Macy’s already exist.

A statement released by Federated last month said that once duplicate stores are closed, the remaining Macy’s in that location will include employees from both locations.

“We will honor the pledge made previously to May Company associates that there will be no workforce reductions or job eliminations as a result of the merger prior to March 1, 2006,” Terry J. Lundgren, Federated’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in the statement.

Ellyne Fleshner, marketing manager at the Maine Mall, did not return phone calls. The emptied locations will be offered for sale to landlords, developers and interested third parties, according to Federated.