October 2004 Cover Story Features

Cover Story

Outlet Retail Chain Awards
Seventy-five companies were nominated in five categories for the newly created Outlet Retail Chain Awards, designed to bring special recognition to those companies that consistently exhibit the qualities so important to outlet industry success. The awards presentation was held during the 2004 VRN Fall Outlet Retail Convention in Orlando on Sept. 8. Selecting winners in each category wasn’t easy, and 15 chains emerged as winners in the following categories: Best Value Equation, Best Marketing Program, Best Visual Merchandising, Best Customer Service and Best Overall Chain.

Features

Tanger Sells Dalton Project
Greensboro, N.C.-based Tanger Factory Outlet Centers
in early September completed the sale of its 173,430-sf
outlet center in Dalton, Ga., for $11.5 million.

Book Warehouse Buys 10 Stores
In late August National Book Warehouse purchases 10 locations from Publishers Warehouse, giving National 126 stores in 38 states and strengthening its spot as the fourth largest bookseller in the United States.

Where’s Aldo?
Canadian footwear retail Aldo operates about 600 stores worldwide and is working on increasing its presence in the U.S. With 125 full-price units in its portfolio, the shoe shop has been quietly expanding into outlet centers as it strives to reach its target audience: men and women between the ages of 15 and 35.

Retail Briefs
Family Dollar is looking for outlet locations; Aqua Massage wants to help shoppers relax; and Ross Stores rolls out a new format aimed at lower-income shoppers.

Triple Whammy
A trio of hurricanes curtails outlet sales, but developers feel lucky because damage is light.

Chelsea Exercises Carlsbad Option
Chelsea Property Group exercises an option to purchase Craig Realty Group’s 290,000-sf Carlsbad (Calif.) Company Stores for approximately $104 million, or nearly $360 psf.