History
Outlet Malls first appeared in the Eastern United States in the 1930s. Factory stores started to offer damaged or excess goods to employees at a low price. After some time, the audience expanded to non-employees as well. In 1936, Anderson-Little (a men's clothing brand) opened an outlet store independent of its existing factories. Until the 1970s, the primary purpose of outlet stores was to dispose of excess or damaged goods.
In 1974, Vanity Fair opened up the first multi-store outlet center in Reading, Pennsylvania. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Outlet malls experienced strong growth. The average outlet mall is opened with between 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of retail space. This can gradually increase to up 500,000 to 600,000 feet. The average outlet mall has an area of 216,000 feet. In 2003, outlet malls generated $15 billion in revenue from 260 stores nationwide.
The number of malls in the 90's increased from 113 in 1988 to 276 in 1991 and to 325 in 1997.
Outlet malls are not an exclusively American phenomenon. In Europe, retailer BAA McArthurGlen has opened 13 malls with over 1,200 stores and 3 million square feet of retail space. Stores have also been emerging in Japan since the mid to late 1990s.
Read more about this topic: Outlet Store
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“It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judgement.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
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“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”
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