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Thousands Enjoy Gettysburg Village Factory Stores’ October Opening

By Donald Finley, Contributing Writer

More than 160,000 people gathered in the little southern Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg July 1-3, 1863, for a big rumpus – the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg between 88,000 Union troops and 75,000 Confederate soldiers.

More than 137 years later, in October 2000, there was another to-do in Gettysburg that drew a cast of thousands. But this time the event was peaceful (a legal skirmish with nearby residents now a distant memory), as more than 100,000 shoppers converged on Gettysburg Village Factory Stores for its eight-day grand opening Oct. 7-14, which coincided nicely with the area’s annual harvest festival.

Shoppers came from as far away as California to check out offerings in the 70 stores and food units in the 260,000-sf phase 1 of outlet center, which will build-out at 500,000 sf. The project is expected to attract up to 3 million shoppers a year, with sales of at least $300 per sf annually, or a total of as much as $78 million in sales, says Alice Estrada, director of marketing for the developer, Philadelphia-based Delancey Boyle Retail Group.

The outlet center, actually four miles from the Gettysburg quaint downtown, is at the interchange of U.S. 15 and the Baltimore Pike, only 2.5 miles for the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park (but not within eyesight of it). The center, which features Civil War-era style architecture, cost more than $36 million to develop on a 111-acre track, and the parking lot has more than 1,800 spaces, Estrada says.

“The crowds for the grand opening were absolutely spectacular,” says Gregory Boyle, a partner in the development firm. “Traffic was 30 to 40 percent more than we anticipated. The turnout, in the words of Dan Cochran, director of real estate for Phillips-Van Heusen, was ‘awesome.’”

Al McCullough, senior director of real estate for Casual Corner, says “The sales figures we’ve gotten so far exceed our plan. We’ve experienced some very good, very strong openings in the past year, and Gettysburg Village was as good as any opening that we’ve had – right up there with the best of them.”

Boyle adds that in another example of good sales, a 2,000 sf store that projected it would take in $700,000 in sales the first year raised that estimate to more than $2 million, based on the opening week’s revenue.

Highlights of the grand opening week’s entertainment included two free concerts on succeeding Saturdays, one by country and western singer Lorrie Morgan and the other by Chubby Checker, singing his old favorites. Checker’s performance was followed by a fireworks display set to music.

Other entertainment during the week included Civil War re-enactments and music groups that included barbershop singers and a brass band, plus antique cars, a petting zoo and square dancing.

In addition to the 260,000 sf in the outlet center proper, the first phase includes an 84-room Carlson Country Inn and Suites and two out-parcel restaurants still under negotiation, Boyle says.

Plans call for a 200,000-sf phase 2 to open by the spring of 2002 and a possible third phase.