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. With In Consumed: Outlet for Exclusivity
Premium Outlets: How a new-luxury brand manages the dances with the mass market.
There was a time when outlet centers were associated with the grubby matter of liquidating unsold merchandise to unglamorous bargain hunters in a low-rent building in the middle of nowhere. Clearly this image has evolved, and many apparel makers even manufacture products specifically for their outlet channels. About 10 years ago, the Chelsea Property Group (a division of Simon Property Group) recognized an opportunity in this low-end category: branding high-end outlet shopping. Today, Chelsea Premium Outlets operates in dozens of locations in the U.S. and abroad, including the sprawling Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, about an hour north of New York City. Current Woodbury tenants include Jimmy Choo, Tory Burch and True Religion….
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Kim Fellner's book 
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Reader Comments
Rob:
I regularly shop at the Chelsea Premium Outlets: I can give you directions to individual stores in their malls from Florida to Waterloo, New York.
I think the distinction about “brand shopping” is correct, but my relationship with brands is more complicated. Polo Ralph Lauren, for instance, has started moving upmarket in Canada. That means it’s hard to find their products in department stores and chains. I HAVE to drive to upstate NY to find reasonably priced preppie clothing.
Premium outlet malls may offer an upmarket shopping experience for consumers that don’t have ready and local access to trendy boutiques or “retail concepts” within larger upscale department stores.
In this case, the brands aren’t cannabalizing their existing sales: they’re expanding their market.
Chelsea seems to have recognized that fact – their outlets all seem to be “just far enough” away from major markets to draw these (dare I say it) “aspirational” but cheap customers.