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W.Va. outlets brace for Prime competition

July 05, 1998
(Page 2 of 2)

Cindy Brock, owner of Hawkins Leather Co. in the Dunn Building in Martinsburg, said her sales are up nearly 20 percent this month.

"You don't know what's going to happen, but right now I don't have complaints," Brock said.

The Hagerstown center is set up "village-style," with rows of stores. Jennifer Sheehan, store manager of the Lenox Factory Outlet, thinks that will give the enclosed Blue Ridge Outlets some advantage.

Sheehan used to work in a Grove City, Pa., outlet owned by Prime Retail. In the winter, business in the strip-style mall stalled, she said.

"A lot of customers don't care for it because they have to walk outside in the winter. Our traffic totally decreased in the winter," Sheehan said.

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Lewbart said he hasn't seen any indication that the setup hurts business.

"Certainly if you have a foot of snow on the ground, you're going to have fewer people venturing out to do anything," Lewbart said. "But we find in Grove City, especially with the holidays, we just do phenomenal business."

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