Price Busters is closing its flagship store at Pearlridge Center on Friday after five years.

The Honolulu-based discount retailer will reopen in a smaller space at the Aiea Commercial Center, roughly half a mile away.

It will transfer all 30 employees to the new store or other locations, said Dan Marshall, company chief operating officer.

"The lease was up and that location was larger than what fits our needs," Marshall said. "We’re moving into one that is closer in size to what all of our other stores are so that we’re a little more consistent. It’s just that size and configuration of that store just wasn’t ideal."

The new store will be about half the size of the current location, measuring 15,000 square feet, and is expected to open in early February.

Negotiations are ongoing with a replacement tenant for the site at Pearlridge — the state’s second-largest shopping center, said mall spokeswoman Deborah Sharkey.

"Whenever one tenant moves out it gives the center an opportunity to fine-tune what we’re offering to our customers to ensure it best matches what they’re interested in," she said.

Price Busters has eight stores, all on Oahu. The first Price Busters opened 20 years ago in Kaneohe.

After a rapid expansion, the chain fell into bankruptcy in January 2010 and subsequently was sold later that year to Retail Partners Hawaii LLC, a joint venture of local real estate developers The MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group.