New Ohio outlet mall bucks recession retail blues

8/2/2009

CINCINNATI A new outlet mall opening next week between Cincinnati and Dayton is a good-news story for retail during the recession.

The $100 million Cincinnati Premium Outlets, about the size of nine football fields, is one of the largest retail projects in the area in years.

The center will feature clothes, footwear, home goods and accessories at discounted prices in its 78 stores.

Industry experts say outlet malls proper in hard times, with traffic to such malls up 15 percent this year along.

Value Retail News says outlet store sales grew a half percent in the first two quarters of 2009, compared to the same period of 2008.

Traditional store sales dropped about 4.5 percent. Twelve retailers launched outlet brands in 2008 and 27 opened discount versions of their stores.