Tanger Outlets

What if you could build a shopping center filled only with the clearance racks from brand-name stores? This was the simple, yet revolutionary, idea that Stanley K. Tanger brought to life. After serving as a pilot in World War II, Tanger took over his family's shirt-making business. He expanded the company to include five of its own outlet stores, which gave him an insight: what if he brought multiple manufacturers together into a single outlet strip mall? In 1981, he acted on this vision, opening the Burlington Manufacturer's Outlet Center in Burlington, North Carolina, effectively creating the concept of the modern outlet mall. The model was a success. Brands had a channel to sell their excess inventory, and shoppers got access to high-quality merchandise at a discount. The company grew, and by 1993, Tanger had a portfolio of 17 outlet centers. That year, Stanley Tanger made another pivotal move: he took the company public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SKT, his own initials. It was the first outlet-only Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to be listed, providing the capital needed to fuel national expansion. Stanley's son, Steven B. Tanger, joined the business in 1986 and eventually took over as CEO in 2009. The company continued to expand across the United States and into Canada. Stanley K. Tanger passed away in 2010, leaving behind a retail empire built on a straightforward premise. Today, Tanger continues to operate as a publicly traded company, adapting its open-air shopping centers to the changing retail landscape.