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Concord Thrills

Sales at Mills megamall top $300M in first year

By Dave Bodamer

Concord Mills, near Charlotte, N.C., features more entertainment and interactive retail elements than the developer’s other centers.

Taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that from each of its existing concepts, The Mills Corp. seems to have come up with a winning combination in its latest project, Concord Mills, which, in its first year of opening has already met or exceeded all of its goals.

Exactly one year after opening in Concord, a suburb just outside Charlotte, N.C., the value megamall has hit its mark in terms of visitors, sales and occupancy, and has already exceeded its opening year goal of $300 million, according to The Mills Corp., Arlington, Va.

Concord Mills opened Sept. 17, 1999 — one day later than scheduled due to the unexpected arrival of Hurricane Floyd. But before the first weekend was even over, more than 250,000 shoppers had visited the center. Most came from the Carolinas, but others ventured from as far away as Baton Rouge, La.; Waukesha, Wis.; and Boston. Sales have been strong at the center, according to executives, who say specialty store sales at the center exceeded $400 per square foot during its first year.

“It’s been a very, very good opening year,” said Concord Mills General Manager Ray Soporowski. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised.”

At 1.4 million square feet, Concord Mills is the second-largest shopping center in North Carolina and, as such, has functioned more like a regional mall than an outlet center. Slightly more than half of the customers come from within the county, an unusually high number of local customers for a Mills property, which are usually “destination malls” that lure customers from far away.

The center does have penetration into the 75- and 100-mile radii areas outside Charlotte as well. More than 450 motor coach trips have been made to the center during the first year, a number that surprised Soporowski. “That’s usually an area that takes longer to develop,” he said.

Concord is operating at 93% occupancy right now with 16 of its 18 anchors currently open. Those numbers have gone up slightly since its opening. Nine merchants have debuted since January and several others are putting the finishing touches on their spaces. Concord features several retailers not usually found in Mills centers, including the company’s first Banana Republic. A higher proportion of entertainment and interactive retail concepts are at Concord than at other Mills properties as well, an extension of the company’s “shoppertainment” concept.

This is illustrative of just how far the Mills concept has progressed since Potomac Mills opened near Washington, D.C., in 1985. The center has taken the most successful and innovative qualities of other Mills Corp. properties and put them together under one roof.

“There’s definitely a lot of differences here compared to other Mills,” Soporowski said. “We have a lot more of entertainment venues and we feel like we’re more family-oriented.”

Soporowski pointed to Concord’s “family bathroom” feature as an example of a successful concept taken from other Mills properties. The facilities contain low-to-the-ground toilets especially designed for children and a room specifically for nursing mothers.

“If you look at our merchant mix, we have a better lineup of fashion retail than at other Mills properties as well,” Soporowski added. In fact, according to Mills, Concord has a larger section of apparel retailers than at its other megamalls.

Concord is also one of the four Mills properties co-developed with Simon Property Group, Indianapolis. The mall is partly owned by German investor Kan Am, the developer’s long-time financial partner.

This particular property is indicative of how Mills has evolved through the years. Unlike the company’s first efforts, Concord employs a racetrack layout. It is the eighth such center in the Mills portfolio to use this approach. Both mallgoers and merchants say they prefer the racetrack because it does not require visitors to backtrack to see every store. With one continuous walkway all the way around, no retailers are situated more prominently than any other. Each is on the mall’s Main Street.

The mall’s designers varied the racetrack by constantly changing the corridor’s width, adding slight turns and placing in objects meant to cut off sight lines.

Long halls are daunting to shoppers and tire them out, so the centers create illusions and obstacles to break up the space. Giant signs, artwork and 80-inch monitors suspended from the ceiling broadcast the proprietary MillsTV network to help break up any monotony. Moreover, about every 100 yards, the 30-foot walkway expands by 10 feet to allow for several storefronts before slimming back down again. At most points in the center, it is difficult to see more than 100 yards ahead.

Other design quirks at Concord include a roof adorned with 18-foot letters spelling the center’s name so that passengers in airplanes can identify the property from above. The center also does not have any clocks in its common areas.

Similar retailers are clustered together to create distinctive zones, with all the entertainment venues situated in the same section of the mall, for example. Those sections are further distinguished by changes in elevation, different wall and floor coverings and different symbols, which are all based on North Carolina culture. The symbols include: a wooden chair back representing the state’s rich furniture industry; sea grass indicative of its coast line and the state flower, which is used regularly by local quilt makers in their designs; and whimmy diddles, a children’s toy used in the Blue Mountains.

The mall’s design was developed by St. Louis architecture firm Kiku Obata & Co.

“Concord Mills is a celebration of the crafts, culture and traditions of North Carolina, which enhances the visitors’ experience and provides a backdrop for an entertaining shopping experience,” said Kiku Obata Vice President Kevin Flynn. Another detail the firm added is a Garden Court which features a topiary garden, a series of fountain bowls and iron trellises hugging columns. To try to keep the feeling of the center authentic, the firm commissioned local artists to handcraft decorations in the court, including birdhouses, lanterns, mobiles and a mural naming all the plant species found at the local Biltmore Gardens.