High Hopes Greet Outlet Mall’s Grand Opening : Oxnard: Shoppers anticipate bargains, officials look forward to new source of sales-tax revenues.

Oxnard College student Maria Garcia has filled out a dozen applications for retail jobs at the city’s new outlet mall. With a job at the mall--preferably at a children’s clothing store--she hopes to get an employee discount she can use to dress her 2-year-old son.

Oxnard city officials also have high hopes for the Oxnard Outlet Mall, a group of sand-and-maroon colored buildings near the Rice Avenue exit of the Ventura Freeway. For them, it represents a chance to boost sales-tax revenues.

The mall’s three-day gala opening begins today, with 29 stores ready for business, including Max Studio, Corning, Geoffrey Beene and Carters, a children’s clothing store. Ten more are expected to open next week. But shoppers in search of the Gap will have to wait two weeks for that store to open, the developers said.

For shoppers like Donna Schulze of Santa Paula, the Oxnard Outlet Mall is a candy-apple temptation. Even though she worries about its impact on longtime merchants in the area, many of whom are still struggling to recover from the recession, she admits she is eager to see what the Gap Outlet has to offer.

From discount shoppers to traffic experts, eyes are on the much-touted mall to see what effect it will have on Ventura County, as well as on Oxnard, which with its auto center, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, is rapidly turning into one of the busiest retail centers in the county.

“Our hope is that it will improve our sales-tax situation and that we’ll be able to generate much more revenues from it,” Mayor Manuel Lopez said.

The mall’s developers, US Outlets and St. Louis-based Fru-Con Development, have spent $400,000 promoting the grand opening. Keith Kennon, of US Outlets, said his company already has plans for expansion--they hope to double the mall’s size by Christmas.

Oxnard Transportation Director Samia Maximous said the city’s concerns over increased traffic on the Rose and Rice Avenue exits had been resolved by developers, who paid to widen some lanes and install new traffic signals. But she said city engineers would monitor the area for problems.

For this weekend’s grand opening, developers said they expect 30,000 shoppers a day.

The expert shoppers came early, dropping by several days ago when about a dozen stores were open for business. They prowled suspiciously, carefully inspecting for bargains and quality but making few purchases.

“We’re just curious,” said Collette Jones of Camarillo, who was shopping with a friend. “Today we’ll kind of get a pulse for what’s happening.”

She said it was unfortunate that Camarillo did not beat Oxnard in the race to build the area’s first outlet mall. “We sure could have used the sales-tax boost,” Jones said.

Although Jones didn’t buy anything, saying, “The prices are a little steep,” she said she would be back.

Outlet malls are an irresistible temptation for many Americans, said Roy Adler, a professor of marketing at Pepperdine University in Malibu. “Everyone loves to think they’re getting a bargain,” he said. “It’s factory-direct so it’s got to be a great deal, right?”

He described the classic outlet mall customer as middle to upper-middle class and most likely a woman. They are treasure hunters, willing to travel great distances to save money, and they measure every purchase by what it might cost elsewhere.

Schulze, the Santa Paula shopper looking for the Gap, said outlets can provoke a frenzy of perhaps unnecessary spending.

“It’s good in some ways to have all this stuff,” she said. “But it’s a little like going to the Price Club. You buy more than you need. I do feel sorry for the local merchants though, because it’s tough to compete.”

Oxnard officials said local merchants reacted with more fear to Wal-Mart, which opened last year. They said the city hopes to start a shuttle service between the outlet mall and stores across the freeway.

“Every time a new business comes in, that’s a concern for someone,” Councilman Michael Plisky said. “But it just means everybody sharpens their pencils and starts doing better to compete. Competition is healthy.”