Last week work was started on the expansion of the Designer Outlet Center (DOC) in Roermond, the Netherlands. McArhurGlen’s outlet center currently has 63 stores. This number will be expanded to 100 stores. Since the opening in November 2001, 6 million customers have visited the 12,000 m² center.
MacArthurGlen says that for half of the expansion candidates have already been found. One of them is most likely Ralph Lauren. Also some Italian top brands in the areas of sports and fashion are said to be interested. This can be related to the fact that McArthurGlen already has centers in Rome and Milan.
For the expansion, a different design will be used than that of the original complex which was previously a barracks. McArthurGlen has chosen to use a typical ‘Old Dutch’ style. According to Marc Bouwens, manager of the DOC in Roermond, the expansion is necessary to keep people coming also in the long run. “We have calculated that the critical size for an outlet is approximately 30,000 m². Therefore the current 12,000 m² will in the long run not be sufficient to keep drawing customers for example from Germany.”
Source: Vastgoedmarkt
