Thousands of people lined up for hours Wednesday morning outside the new outlet mall near the Edmonton airport, just to be among the first through the doors on opening day.
The 428,000-square-foot, 100-plus-store facility, officially called Premium Outlet Collection Edmonton International Airport, opened at 10 a.m., but many eager shoppers were there much earlier.
Elizabeth Masse arrived around 7 a.m. to find hundreds of people already gathered. Some had been there overnight.
She said she was attracted by the prospect of $50 gift cards being awarded to the first 1,000 shoppers.
With music playing and other enthused people to chat with, the wait didn’t seem too bad, she said.
Elizabeth Masse got a $50 gift card to the mall for being one of the first 1,000 people to arrive on opening day. (Nathan Gross/CBC)
Destination and diversification
The mall is in Leduc County, southeast of the airport.
Masse, from Leduc, said she knows of a lot of people interested in coming to the mall.
Susana Boateng and her friend, Vivian Dannah, also live in Leduc.
“This is the most convenient mall we’ve ever had,” Boateng said, noting that West Edmonton Mall, where they used to go, is about 45 minutes away.
Leduc Mayor Bob Young said when ground broke on the project two years ago, the region, reliant on the oil and gas industry, was suffering the impact of an economic downturn. He called the mall opening “another step toward diversification.”
In addition to 200 construction-related jobs, the $215-million mall is estimated to have created more than 1,000 retail jobs.
Shoppers poured into the mall after the doors opened and started making purchases almost immediately. (Nathan Gross/CBC)
Shop and Fly
As suggested by the official name, the mall, with arrival and departure boards inside, is affiliated with the airport.
Over the next year, the city of Edmonton, in partnership with Leduc and Leduc County and the airport, will be rolling out shuttle busing.
“Increasingly, travellers expect an airport to be more than just a building connected to a plane,” Edmonton International Airport president Tom Ruth said.
Stephen Yalof, of Simon Premium Outlets, which partnered with developer Ivanhoe Cambridge on the project, said people will be able to ship parcels purchased at the mall to their destinations.
About 70 of the stores in the mall are open now. A handful, including Guess, Tommy Hilfiger and Marshalls, are expected to open in the summer.