Business & Tech
Great Mall Sales Grow in Spite of Economy
A portion of the sales tax generated from the Great Mall made up 20 percent of the city's sales tax revenue last year, said General Manager Gayle Speare.
Have you seen the new stores and improvements at the Great Mall lately? Milpitas Rotarians got an update Monday at their weekly meeting in Brandon's Restaurant when featured speaker General Manager Gayle Speare, assisted by her Director of Marketing and Business Development, Christina Robles Miller, presented her informative program.
Great Mall's portion of sales tax to the city represented about 20 percent of the Milpitas' sales tax revenue and five percent of the city's general fund last year, said Speare.
The good news for Milpitas is that sales increased eight percent over a year ago and 10 percent last year.
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Speare said several new stores have opened this year including; Olive Garden Restaurant, Michael Kors, Eyebrow Designer 21, Foreign Exchange, Samsonite, Perry Ellis, Original Penguin, Aldo, Crazy 8, Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen, and Naartjie Kids.
While Coach has been among the most popular outlet stores, the Coach Men's Store opened Thursday. Puma is opening in early November. And Charley's Steakery will open early next year.
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Speare added that Bath & BodyWorks, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th, and Nike have completed their storefront renovations.
On the marketing front, Robles said, “We use social networks like Facebook and Twitter as communications tools to provide shoppers with up to the minute information on sales, offers, events, and announcements. These formats allow our fans and followers to give us their feedback and ask questions.”
She announced that during the month of October, Great Mall will encourage women of all ages to look good, feel good and do good during their Celebrating Women campaign. The month-long celebration will feature exclusive discounts, giveaways and special events including a Red Hat Rendezvous event on October 11 for Red Hat Society members.
And of course, in November, crowds will be lining up for sales on as they have in years past.
“We are planning a terrific Black Friday this year when we'll open at midnight,” Speare said. “Store managers will be briefed on policies and procedures for a safe and fun event.”
