Just over a year after construction began, Toronto Premium Outlets™
opened this morning amid fanfare and unprecedented crowds.
By mid-morning, on site and multiple overflow lots were filled to
capacity while store management reported sales beyond expectations. “We
have always known this would be a fabulous market for the Premium
Outlets brand,” said John R. Klein, President of Simon’s Premium Outlets
division, “but we could never have predicted this level of positive
shopper response. So many Canadians are familiar with our Premium
Outlets properties in the United States and it’s clear from today’s
response that they are as excited as we are about this kind of shopping.”
Shoppers lined up hours before the opening ceremony with crowds so large
that traffic was backed up onto Highway 401 and other surrounding roads
throughout much of the day. By mid-afternoon, there were still lines to
get into many stores including, Coach, Kate Spade New York*, Michael
Kors and Polo Ralph Lauren* and Hudson’s Bay Outlet*, an iconic Canadian
brand opening its first ever outlet store. *First outlet store in
Canada
Earlier, the day kicked off with a ribbon cutting event with area
dignitaries and development partners including Huw Thomas, President and
CEO of Calloway REIT, Mitchell Goldhar, Owner & CEO of SmartCentres and
John R. Klein from Simon Premium Outlets division. After a spectacular
ceremony featuring Chinese good luck dragons, the stores opened and
Premium Outlets officially arrived in Canada.
Simon’s Premium Outlets portfolio features 79 Premium Outlet Centres
including 64 in the United States, one in Puerto Rico, nine in Japan,
two in South Korea, one in Malaysia and one in Mexico. Premium Outlet
Centres in the United States are located primarily in or near major
metropolitan markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago
and visitor markets such as Orlando and Palm Springs. Leading properties
include Woodbury Common Premium Outlets (near New York City), Orlando
Premium Outlets (Florida), Desert Hills Premium Outlets (Palm Springs,
California) and Las Vegas Premium Outlets (Nevada).
For more information on the Grand Opening Celebration as well as
additional store announcements, please visit the Toronto Premium
Outlets™ website at: www.torontopremiumoutlets.ca.
About Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) is an S&P 100 company and a global
leader in the retail real estate industry. The Company currently owns or
has an interest in 327 retail real estate properties in North America
and Asia comprising 242 million square feet. We are headquartered in
Indianapolis, Indiana and employ approximately 5,500 people in the U.S.
For more information, visit the Simon Property Group website at www.simon.com.
About Calloway
Calloway is one of Canada's largest real estate investment trusts with a
total asset value in excess of $6 billion. It owns and manages
approximately 26 million square feet in 115 value-oriented retail
centres having the strongest national and regional retailers, as well as
strong neighbourhood merchants. Calloway's vision is to provide a
value-oriented shopping experience to Canadian consumers. For more
information on Calloway, visit www.callowayreit.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2013