PERRYVILLE — After more than 25 years, the Perryville Outlets is down to just four stores in the 45-space shopping center amid talks that it may undergo major changes.
Mary Ann Skilling, Perryville town planner, said the property is in the acquisition stage.
“We’re working with them on various things,” she said, without divulging details.
Peter Mathieson, asset manager for The Shops at Perryville LLC, could not comment on the future of the 41-acre commercial property. He said the property owner is not ready to announce his plans for the land.
“You’re just going to have to wait,” he said.
More than a year ago, Mathieson hinted that light industrial was being examined.
Skilling said the land is currently zoned C2, or highway commercial.
“With C2, certain things can happen there, but warehousing isn’t in our C2 district,” Skilling said.
While only four stores remain in the outlet currently — Smore Baskets & Collectibles, G.H. Bass & Co., Jennifer’s Salon and a tobacco/vape store — it’s about to get even emptier.
Ellen Bradley spent her final day at Smore Baskets & Collectibles on Thursday. The Port Deposit woman said the owner of the shop had already moved much of the merchandise to a new store in Ohio. Bradley doesn’t know what will become of the property where she has worked the past six years.
“I’ve heard six or seven different things,” Bradley said, among them warehouses, storage units and an industrial park.
Bradley acknowledged that the demise of the mall was obvious.
“Foot traffic has been falling off for years,” she said. “It’s sad, really sad.”
Customers walking through the outlets on Thursday were equally surprised by how the center has changed.
Rhete Goldschmidt was en route from Baltimore back to New Rochelle, N.Y., when she stopped at the center to shop.
“When I was here last, every store was taken,” Goldschmidt said.
Erin Nelson was equally shocked by the decaying sidewalks and empty storefronts.
“When we were here years ago there was a mob here,” Nelson, from Glen Burnie, said.
Nelson said she was unaware the mall had so few stores left until she pulled off Interstate 95.
Bryan Stwarka traveled from Havre de Grace to take advantage of the sales at the G.H. Bass & Co. store.
“This is a sad state of affairs,” he said as he scanned the property, noting that he liked having Jos. A. Banks, Bass and OshKosh B’Gosh stores close by. “It was not so much the outlet prices, it was that it was close.”
While customers may be sad to see the outlet mall diminished, Bradley, of Smore Baskets, is eager to be retired.
“I have this love affair with the corner of my couch,” she said, laughing.
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