Versace, Forever 21 among stores coming to Aurora outlet mall
Several new retailers are scheduled to open this month at Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora and more are coming later in the year, mall officials said Thursday.
Versace, Forever 21 and performance show maker Salomon all are set to open in the coming weeks at the outdoor mall along I-88 at Farnsworth Avenue.
Other stores expected to open this year are Victoria's Secret and its offshoot Pink, Restoration Hardware, shoemaker Geox Breathes, Steve Madden, Land's End, children's apparel brand Hanna Andersson and Bath & Body Works.
Those retailers are in addition to the 40 new or expanded stores that have opened in the past 10 months, bringing the total number of stores in the mall to 170 and making Chicago Premium Outlets the largest such center in the Chicago market with 688,000 square feet of shopping space.
The mall recently completed a $110 million expansion and renovation project that added more amenities, roughly 250,000 square feet of retail space and about 2,200 parking spaces.
The arrival of the new stores marks the end of that project, said Mark Silvestri, chief operating officer of Premium Outlets at Simon Property Group. “What's exciting is that's it's all completed and we're ready to reintroduce it to the customer,” Silvestri said.
Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said the mall's expansion has helped drive the city's economic development as well as creating jobs and attracting thousands of visitors each day. It also provides sales tax revenue for the city and property tax revenue for Batavia schools.
“It has a regional impact, so it's great for Aurora, but not just Aurora, the whole area,” Weisner said.
The new stores are expected to employ an additional 300 part- and full-time workers, said Phil Whitsel, area manager for Chicago Premium Outlets.
The construction phase of the project created about 850 jobs.
The announcements came during a grand reopening Thursday, when the mayor was given a “Key to the Mall.”
Existing stores at the 10-year-old facility include Adidas, Coach, Gap, Levi's, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour and Vera Bradley. Stores that have opened in the past 10 months include Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and Clarins luxury skin care.