Woodbury Common Premium Outlets is an

outlet center An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowi ...

located in Central Valley, New York. The center is owned by Premium Outlets, a subsidiary of

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in India ...

, and takes its name from the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in which it is located. Opened in late 1985, expanded in 1993, and again in 1998, the center now has 220 stores occupying more than 800,000 square feet (72,000 m²) and is one of the largest contiguous outlet centers in the world. Due to its size, different areas are color-coded to help orient themselves. Due to its proximity to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Woodbury Common is a major attraction for foreign

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

visiting the region. Japanese tourists have been overtaken by Chinese tourists as the most frequent foreign visitors. Tour buses and shuttles make daily trips from New York City, the center employs a staff of interpreters, and currency exchange and foreign shipping services are available on site. Guests are greeted in several languages other than

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

including

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, French and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Local economic impact

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

officials sometimes refer to Woodbury Common as the county's cash cow as the sales tax collected on the

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

and footwear sold at the center, even after recent reductions by the state, provides a significant portion of the county's revenue. The center is also a significant part of the local

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inhe ...

base, particularly for the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District.

Location

The center is located on Route 32 just north of Route 17 and due west of Exit 16 on the New York State Thruway ( Interstate 87). A weekend-only

shuttle bus A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travellin ...

also runs from the mall to the nearby Harriman station on Metro North's

Port Jervis Line The Port Jervis Line is a predominantly single-track commuter rail line running between Suffern and Port Jervis, in the U.S. state of New York. At Suffern, the line continues south into New Jersey as NJ Transit's Main Line. The line is operate ...

. Short Line, part of

Coach USA Coach USA, LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service across the ...

also provides service to this outlet.

Traffic

The downside of the revenue is the traffic generated by the mall, particularly on major shopping days. Black Friday 2001 in particular was remembered for protracted snarling of not just the expressways leading to Woodbury Common but the local roads as well. Some motorists were trapped on the mall's internal roads for hours.Scott, Brendan; November 25, 2001
Woodbury Common traffic riles shoppers and neighbors
''

Times Herald-Record The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is a daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, Sullivan ...

'', retrieved September 9, 2006. Woodbury town officials and residents were extremely upset and pressed state police and Premium Outlets' parent company,

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, for a solution for future years as they said the company had been unresponsive to such concerns in the past. The following

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

, state troopers, Woodbury police and mall officials tested a new plan whereby they viewed the situation from a

command center A command center (often called a war room) is any place that is used to provide centralized command for some purpose. While frequently considered to be a military facility, these can be used in many other cases by governments or businesses ...

and made decisions jointly.Rife, Judy; May 23, 2002
Will plan avert Woodbury Common gridlock?
''

''; retrieved September 9, 2006. However, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 2006 also led to some legendary snarling, since bad weather abated just in time for back-to-school sales and roads backed up:

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...

was bumper-to-bumper all the way to

Palisades Interstate Parkway The Palisades Interstate Parkway (PIP) is a limited-access highway in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. The parkway is a major commuter route into New York City from Rockland and Orange counties in New York and Bergen County in New ...

and the Thruway was backed up 15 miles (24 km) north to Newburgh. Officials called on the state to build a Route 32 exit ramp that lets southbound drivers reach the Thruway without turning left and blocking traffic. It was reported afterwards that New York's Department of Transportation had accelerated the process of designing such a connection.McKenna, Chris; September 8, 2006
Plan tackles Woodbury traffic snarls
''Times Herald Record''; retrieved September 9, 2006. On Black Friday 2007, Woodbury Common held its second annual Midnight Madness attracting more shoppers than the roads could handle. Traffic at one time was held up for on the New York State Thruway.Redmond, Kimberly (December 19, 2017
"Fixing Woodbury Common's Traffic 'Nightmare'"
''lohud.com''. Retrieved January 24, 2020.

Expansion plans

In 2011 the mall announced a proposed $100 million expansion plan that would include a three-level parking garage, of additional retail space, new store facades and improvements to traffic flow within the mall, its first major expansion since 1997. It estimates that the project would create 400 construction jobs and 350–400 permanent ones at the new stores. Work would be coordinated with improvements to the Thruway interchange scheduled to begin at that time, and take three years to complete. The state-of-the-art parking deck opened in August 2015. The deck is configured with a system of red and green lights, essentially pointing drivers to available spaces within the deck, or, alternately, directing them to other levels. Also DO not forget about weekend parking if you plan on during the weekend. It's 15 dollars for parking unless you go to the parking garage.

References

External links