Those driving past Mebane on Interstate 40/Interstate 85 battled shopping traffic equivalent of two Black Fridays as Tanger Outlets launched over the weekend.
The opening created a traffic jam. Parking stretched past the lot onto the hills. Shoppers could still smell the fresh paint on the walls.
The store provides another large retail option for UNC students, competing with Durham’s The Streets at Southpoint for their business while offering outlet prices.
Elisa Lark, who drove an hour from Winston-Salem and was lined up to pay at the Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store, said she spent more than $500 at 20 percent to 40 percent off in most places.
“The stores are great, and there are a lot of good choices and deals,” Lark said. “I bought several Polo shirts and a sweater from here.”
The outlet’s 75 stores were built in about 11 months, said Kathleen Hackshaw, general manager of North Carolina Piedmont Tanger Outlet Center. About 800 employees are working in Tanger Outlets, and some of the stores are still hiring.
Inventories range from clothing, accessories, footwear, housewares and home furnishings.
The outlets, located in Alamance County, will entice shoppers away from Orange County, where officials worry about growing a tax base from retail but where there are no malls and few big stores like Target or Wal-Mart.
“Thousands of thousands of people came in during the opening weekend,” Hackshaw said.
She said Tanger has been working with the Mebane Police Department to regulate the traffic from the heavy volume of visitors.
“We didn’t park in the mall area. We parked outside and walked about half a mile from there,” said Nadine Small from Lexington, N.C., who was shopping in the Nike Factory Store.
Small said she thought the mall was nice but there weren’t enough places to eat.
