As Tanger Outlets prepares to open its 43rd location this weekend in greater Columbus, Ohio we dive into CSG’s locations database to have a look at existing retail chains and properties in northern Columbus that could feel the effect. Located along I-71, 12 miles northeast of Columbus’s I-270 loop, Tanger Columbus is the second Ohio location for the company. The new Tanger Columbus appears particularly apparel-heavy in its retail mix, so our focus falls on this segment.

Pulling location data for apparel and department store chains within a 20-mile radius around the Tanger Columbus outlet finds 108 retailers with 200 total locations.  Currently, almost half of the apparel retailers opening an outlet store this weekend (18 of 37) have at least one retail location within the 20-mile radius. Breaking these numbers down further:

• 13 of the 37 brands have two retail locations within the 20-mile radius. These retailers include Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, Express, J. Crew and Victoria Secrets. Many of these stores have an existing location at Polaris Fashion Place mall (11.6 miles away) and Easton Town Center development (16.2 miles out)

• 3 of the 37 retailers – LOFT, Old Navy and Talbots – have three store locations within 20 miles of their new outlet store.

If retail locations from The Mall at Tuttle Crossing are added to the dataset (Tuttle Crossing falls slightly outside of the 20-mile radius but within a 30-minute drive), the number of retailers with 3 stores in proximity to Tanger Outlets climbs to 7 of 37 with the addition of another Banana Republic, Gap, Hot Topic and Victoria’s Secret.

One of the more interesting takeaways from this data is envisioning a substantial net gain from placing outlet locations for moderately-priced brands like Gap and Old Navy within a 30-minute drive of two and three existing stores. Surely the outlets will pull significant traffic from existing stores as consumers who already associate these brands with “deals” choose to travel slightly greater distances for even greater bargains. Many of these retailers have been in the outlet game for a decade a more. One assumes, then, that significant incremental revenue realized from consumers attracted to Tanger Columbus from farther afield as a destination shopping experience must be the key to success.