New outlets open at Tanger, more to follow

BARSTOW — Barstow shoppers now have another place to buy shoes, luggage and sunglasses.

Three national retailers, Skechers, Samsonite and Sunglasses Hut, opened for business at Tanger Outlets in Barstow near Lenwood on Friday.

For Skechers, a national shoe retailer, the Tanger location will be its first outlet store in the Barstow Market. Ashley Barbour, Skechers’ store manager, said she hopes that the wide variety of shoes the store sells will appeal to all customers.

“We aren’t generalized to one specific age group,” she said. “We cover everything.”

She said that the company is the second largest retailer of footwear company in the United States. According to the company’s Web site, Skechers operates more than 130 retail stores and sells more than 2,000 styles of shoes.

Barbour said that she’s glad the store could open before Christmas in order to serve holiday shoppers.

“We’re certainly coming in a little late in the year, but we expect to finish big,” she said.

She said that the store will employ at least 15 and is currently fully staffed.

Skechers new store won’t be the only change at the outlet center. The Samsonite store is moving from its current location inside Tanger. Sunglass Hut’s new outlet will be its second in Barstow. The company operates a location at Barstow Outlets.

The outlet center is adding 17 storefronts to its existing 23 outlets in a $10 million expansion that will add 65,000 square feet of retail space and is expected to be completed in March, said Jennifer Rodriguez, the general manager of Tanger’s Barstow location. She said that she expects three to five stores to open each month until March as part of the expansion.

She said that the not all of the new tenants have been named, but some of the stores coming to the outlets include Juicy Couture, Lucky Jeans, Banana Republic, Anne Taylor, Gymboree, Aldo, Designer Fragrance, Coach, Claire’s and Wilson’s Leather among others.

Rodriguez added that she’s heard from many customers and employees who are looking forward to having more places to shop in Barstow.

“As the community is, we’re all excited for the stores to open,” she said.

Contact the writer:

(760) 256-4126 or jason_smith@link.freedom.com