Camarillo Premium Outlets Fights Proposal for Nearby Center
Owners of the popular Camarillo Premium Outlets are losing no time in trying to scuttle plans for a smaller outlet center nearby.
Chelsea GCA Realty Inc. on Thursday appealed the city Planning Commission’s approval last week of an 85-store outlet mall on neighboring property.
The appeal of the 3-2 vote, which will be heard by the City Council on Oct. 14, lists possible traffic problems and suggests the site “is better suited to a big-box user,” such as a Costco or a Wal-Mart.
But some people say there are reasons the appeal did not mention.
“The best that I can tell is they are opposed because they think it will cause competition,” Camarillo City Manager Bill Little said. “They seem to base their objections on traffic concerns, but what it all boils down to is they don’t seem to like the idea that a new outlet center is coming into town.”
While officials for Chelsea declined to comment, Little said they have told city officials of their concern about the Camarillo Promenade center slicing away at their share of revenues.
The Premium Outlets’ 115 high-end retail shops generated $850,000 in sales taxes for the city last year and ranks 24th among the top 30 outlets in the U.S., according to the trade publication Value Retail News.
Prime Retail, the Baltimore-based developer behind Camarillo Promenade, hopes to capitalize on that success. The 220,000-square-foot center would include 85 shops, a restaurant, a 120-room hotel and 10 more theaters. What remains to be seen is whether that will saturate the market in Camarillo.
Jim Jevens, an economic consultant with strong ties to the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, thinks not.
“As long as people feel there is something unique about coming to Camarillo and they respond to advertising, they’re going to come,” he said. “I think there are oftentimes markets where you have multiple outlet stores both operating very successfully and adjacent to each other,” said a spokesman for Prime Retail. “The outlet shopper treats the mall as a destination. The critical mass generated by it being a destination point is what makes it successful.”
The two centers would be separated only by the Edwards movie theater complex on Ventura Boulevard.
Supporters of the project say the combined draw of more than 200 stores could bring in shoppers as diverse as Valley girls and foreign tourists.
“It’s not unusual to see a busload or two of people from Japan or Germany,” Jevens said. “Germans love to shop the American outlet centers.”
But before mall mania ensues, Prime Retail must first confront its challengers. Legal wrangling could delay or even kill the development, which is slated to begin next year.
“They really are looking to postpone it and wait until the people get tired of it and go away,” Little said.
