Nike is doubling an outlet store: outlets are a growth format.

Nike opens a store with close to double the floor area at Livingston Designer Outlet outside Edinburgh on September 24. In Pennsylvania, Vera Bradley signed a 2,509-square-foot lease at Tanger Lancaster. Outside Shanghai, Bailian opened a second phase at Qingpu Bailian Outlets on September 21 and filled it with categories an outlet was never built for.

Three companies, three markets, four days. Outlet space is no longer only where the season ends. It is where each of them put the next tranche of capital.

Tanger Lancaster in Pennsylvania confirmed on September 23 that Vera Bradley opens a 2,509-square-foot store in October, near Polo Ralph Lauren and New Balance.

The co-tenancy around that unit is the standard American outlet line-up. Malls.com holds 66 confirmed brands at the center, among them a Nike factory store, Under Armour, Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Crocs and HEYDUDE.

That repetition is the format's defining feature. Across the 109 US outlet centers Malls.com tracks with a current roster of 74 carry all six of Nike, adidas, Under Armour, Polo Ralph Lauren, Levi's and Skechers. A mall is assembled from its market. An outlet center is assembled closer to a template, which is why a single inline lease inside one describes the channel rather than the town.

Livingston Designer Outlet says the new Nike store opens on September 24 with close to double the floor area of the unit it replaces, in a Nike Factory Store format, with a DJ, dance performances and a customization station on the day.

Store size is the part of the P&L a brand controls directly. A renewal holds occupancy. A larger footprint changes what the space is expected to produce, and productivity per square foot records the answer a year later.

Nike reports first-quarter results on October 1, the next point at which its own channel numbers become public.

Bailian opened the second phase of Qingpu Bailian Outlets Plaza in western Shanghai on September 21, twenty years after the first. Bailian says the combined complex covers 200,000 square meters, carries more than 500 brands and holds over 3,000 parking spaces.

The new phase brings electronics and appliances, Chinese designer labels, pet lifestyle retail and riverside leisure space. Bailian describes the project as moving past the traditional outlet model.

Regional malls and lifestyle centers use the same approach when they compete for time rather than for a single transaction. Applied to an outlet, it widens the catchment beyond shoppers who came for a discount and rewrites the leasing brief from price-led apparel to a mix that holds a visitor for an afternoon.

→ Florentia Village, Istanbul. The designer outlet opened on September 17 near Istanbul Airport. Its 65,000 sqm first phase mixes luxury outlets with full-price stores and dining.

→ Primark, Augusta Mall. The value retailer opens its 48th US store on September 24, its second in Georgia, after moving the date from September 10. Value fashion at 28,000 square feet inside a mall answers the same demand from the other format.

→ Insta360, Times Square. The camera brand opened its first flagship store outside Asia on September 19. A category with no outlet presence is worth watching for the point at which it acquires one.

→ IULIUS, Romania. The operator put all of its centers onto the Generatik indoor advertising platform on September 22, covering more than 380 screens. Selling something other than space is the other route to revenue per visit.

Vera Bradley took inline space. Nike doubled a store. Bailian added categories an outlet was never built for.

Discounting is what the format sells. Growth is what it is being used for.

Mati Brooks,

Editor, Malls Money

Malls.com tracks malls, brands, store openings, and retail expansion signals across 50+ countries.