The Lodi area’s train-themed outlet mall is remaking itself into a hybrid shopping venue, renting space to existing Northeast Ohio retailers who will sell goods at full price.
Appalachian Outfitters of Peninsula — which deals in premium brands like North Face and Patagonia for everyone from Mount Everest climbers to soccer moms — is the first local store to sign a lease. It plans to open a satellite location at the Medina County center in late February or early March.
The outlet mall — renamed Ohio Station Outlets/The Market Platform a couple of months ago — is also in negotiations with three other local retailers, mall General Manager Trinity D’Andrea Elmiger said this week.
She declined to identify the stores, but said mall shoppers have craved particular local providers of everything from furniture and home accessories to jewelry and scarves.
“We know it takes an experience to draw shoppers. We have that. But they also want the right stores,” D’Andrea Elmiger said. “What they told us is they want local, high-quality retail establishments they already know.”
The outlet mall hopes to fill 35,000 square feet of space with local retailers, she said.
Mike Leffler, owner of Appalachian Outfitters, said the opportunity for a second location came at a great time.
Leffler, who bought Appalachian Outfitters in 2006, closed the store’s first location in Canton around 2007 because it wasn’t doing the business it once did.
He concentrated all efforts in a 12,000-square-foot space near the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. There, the store had the market cornered for climbing gear, backpacking, camping and other sports.
But Seattle-based national outdoor retailer REI last year announced plans for its first Cleveland store next year in suburban Orange at Interstate 271 and Harvard Road. That’s about a 20-minute drive from Peninsula.
“I’m not naive enough to think we’re not going to take a hit,” Leffler said this week.
Leffler already remodeled the Peninsula store in hopes of better competing. And he was thinking about pushing south again with another location when, in October, two developers approached him within two days.
Leffler declined to name the first developer but said he wanted a 10-year lease and a hefty monthly rental.
“When [the outlet mall] gave us the numbers, it was two-year commitment at such an attractive rate I almost fell over,” Leffler said.
Appalachian Outfitters ultimately committed to a three-year lease on the condition the outlet mall do some interior remodeling.
The Medina County location will be about a third of the size of the Peninsula store and will be called Appalachian Outfitters Lifestyle.
It won’t carry all of the kayaks, tents and other large gear that the Peninsula store does because there’s not enough space, Leffler said.
What Appalachian Outfitters will sell at its Lodi-area store are the same brands and the same quality and the same price as what it sells in Peninsula, he said, unlike the brands sold at some other outlets.
The outlet mall in Harrisville Township, near Lodi, may be the first in the country to bring local, full-priced retailers into its mix, D’Andrea Elmiger said. Many outlet malls, including Lodi’s, have national retailers who sell at full price.
In Lodi, that includes Dress Barn, Justice (a Limited Brands store aimed at tweens) and Motherhood Maternity.
But those full-price national stores might also feature larger sale racks that are made up of clearance items brought in from its other sites.
She said recent business, especially on the weekends, has been good at the mall, which opened in 1996. Original tenants like The Gap, Polo/Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger remain. And other retail has moved in and out. The last store to leave, she said, was a Totes outlet in 2014.
One of the things that distinguishes the Lodi mall is a vintage train installed in 2008 that runs on tracks throughout the venue.
Tickets to ride the train cost $4, but anyone over age 2 can serve as conductor for free on his or her birthday.
That’s helped draw many birthday parties, family reunions and other events to the outlet center’s food court.
“We’re always listening to customers,” D’Andrea Elmiger said, “and we’re always trying to bring them what they want.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.