Retailers going in Outlets at Little Rock are starting to take out building permits to finish their plain, white-box spaces -- among them Gap Factory, Banana Republic and OshKosh B'Gosh/Carter's.
Others include Children's Place, a China Max restaurant, Dress Barn, Express, Gymboree and Kay Jewelers.
The outlet mall is under construction at the intersection of Interstates 30 and 430, adjacent to Bass Pro Shops. At least 95,000 cars drive by the site each day, said New England Development of Boston, which is building the center and leasing and managing the space for tenants. The project with room for 75 stores has been given an address of 11201 Bass Pro Parkway.
New England Development recently announced an opening date of Oct. 16 for Outlets at Little Rock, although it refuses to name or confirm tenants.
"Our outlet retailers prefer to make their own announcements a couple of months before a project opens, so we are respecting their wishes by waiting until closer to our opening date to officially announce which stores will be part of Outlets at Little Rock," said Michael Barelli, the company's vice president.
CDI Contractors LLC, the construction company for the project, has applied for building permits for the aforementioned tenants, although none were approved as of Thursday, said Mark Alderfer, commercial plans examiner for the city of Little Rock's Department of Planning and Development. Information about store sizes, amenities and the cost to build out the stores' individual spaces won't be available until the permits are issued.
Most of the coming outlet retailers already have established stores in the region, and some managers believe the new stores with different and less expensive merchandise will put the hurt on their business.
Britney Myers, manager of the Children's Place store at Promenade at Chenal, said she expects the Children's Place outlet to draw customers that normally would shop at the Promenade. There's another Children's Place at the Midtowne shopping area.
"Especially with the title of an 'outlet,' I think it's really going to pull [business] away from us," Myers said of the Chenal location. "I don't think the prices are too different. The product is a little bit different."
Merchandise bought at a Children's Place outlet can't be exchanged or returned at a regular retail store, she said. A special tag on the inside designates that an item was bought at an outlet.
"When you hear the word 'outlet,' it's just an exciting thing," Myers said. "Not only that, but you have the Bass Pro Shops there, too, and that brings a lot of people over there."
Chris Carter, store manager at Kay Jewelers in McCain Mall in North Little Rock, said he has customers that drive to the mall from the area where Outlets at Little Rock is going in. Still, Carter said the merchandise is so different that he doesn't expect to lose many sales.
"Outlets are designed to reach out to a different clientele because of clearance merchandise, pre-owned selections and that sort of thing," he said. "We're pretty set and established here. If we lose some [business], I don't think it would be a whole lot."
Kay Jewelers has been at McCain Mall since it opened. There's another location at Park Plaza.
Isaac Smith, principal and executive vice president at Colliers International in Little Rock, said the retailers have a strategy to keep sales strong in all of their stores within the market.
"These retailers are smart enough to know that they're not going to come in and open up another store that's going to take any business away from what they currently have," Smith said. "And even if it is, it's all going to be incrementally more.
"Obviously they do this a lot in other markets. This is not the first one."
As construction rolls on at Outlets at Little Rock, so does New England Development's work on Asheville Outlets in North Carolina, Clarksburg Premium Outlets in Maryland, Outlets of Des Moines in Iowa and Outlets of Michigan in Romulus. All but the Clarksburg project are roughly the same size as Little Rock -- about 325,000 square feet. Clarksburg is about 100,000 square feet bigger.
The first restaurant to apply for a permit at the Little Rock outlet project is China Max, a product of Magic Wok International Inc.
Magic Wok describes China Max as having "traditional Chinese offerings ... diversified through the use of innovative Southeast Asian cooking techniques." The chain fuses various Asian cooking styles and offers traditional Chinese fare. To even be considered for a China Max location, an area must have a population of 200,000 or more, have an average household income of at least $45,000 and average daily traffic of 45,000 or more cars.
The Little Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area's population is 724,385 with an average household income of $63,330, according to data from New England Development.
Smith said the outlet project is a positive for Little Rock.
"These guys are seeing our market as a viable place, that it can stand more than one store without cannibalizing the other in any way," he said. "It might take a little bit away, but it's going to be a net positive for the company and the market."
SundayMonday Business on 03/02/2015