Saks to Open Outlet Store in Camarillo : Shopping: The 16,000-square-foot facility will be a first for Southern California. It will be located in the Factory Stores center.

Ventura County residents will get a taste of the Big Apple this fall when Saks Fifth Avenue opens its first outlet store in Southern California at the Camarillo Factory Stores shopping center.

The swank, New York based retailer plans to open the nearly 16,000-square-foot “Off 5th--Saks Fifth Avenue” store in November.

Terri Cameron, the center’s general manager, said the outlet will be the mall’s biggest store and will very likely boost the number of shoppers--estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 a day--who now visit the center’s 42 stores.

“[Saks] will just increase an already good traffic flow,” Cameron said. “Its name recognition will certainly help identify the center further. Saks has wonderful merchandise.”

According to Cameron, Off 5th-Saks Fifth Avenue will stock American and European designer brands of women’s dresses and casual sportswear. The store will also sell men’s suits, sport coats, sportswear and shoes.

Though Saks Fifth Avenue is not commonly known as a bargain shopper’s paradise, Cameron said this Saks outlet will offer merchandise at 40% to 70% below retail prices.

“One of the things that distinguishes us from other outlets is that the quality of the merchandise that we sell is very high,” said Lori Rhodes, a Saks Fifth Avenue spokeswoman in New York. “A lot of our merchandise comes directly from our department stores.”

Saks Fifth Avenue has 41 department stores and five resort stores located across the United States. The Camarillo store will be the company’s 16th outlet store nationwide.

“It is an ideal location, not only to serve the greater Los Angeles markets, but also tourists and other visitors alike because it is so close to Los Angeles,” Rhodes said. Located near the Ventura Freeway at the Las Posas Road exit in Camarillo, the mall is just a few miles from the Oxnard Factory Outlet stores. Cameron said Saks may heat up the competition.

“It always helps to get a name store as nationally known as Saks,” Cameron said. “It will be a great draw for our center.”

The general manager of the Oxnard Factory Outlet mall could not be reached for comment.

Camarillo Factory Stores opened in February. Tenants now housed in the center include Esprit, Levi’s, Nine West and Mikasa.

Off 5th-Saks Fifth Avenue will become the anchor tenant in the second phase of the mall’s construction, which calls for an additional 20 stores.

Though Cameron would only divulge the names of two new stores--Spa Gear and Jones New York Country--she said she has only one more vacancy in the mall’s 80,000-square-foot expansion.

Camarillo Factory Stores is owned by Chelsea GCA Reality Inc., a real estate investment trust that owns and operates 17 factory outlet shopping centers in the United States.