Word: flemington
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...between, scores of manufacturers' outlet stores are doing a land-office business by offering 25% to 70% savings. Along with the bargains, urban consumers enjoy a day in the country and engage in a venerable American dream -- the inalienable right to pursue the deep discount. Says Charles Bloom, a Flemington-based developer who has put together six profitable factory-to-you outlet villages in the U.S.: "This is the wave of the retail future...
...little Flemington (pop. 4,000), once a center of iron foundries, the wave is of tidal proportions. The town's history as a bargain haven goes back to the turn of the century. Its success, though, really took off in 1921, when the Flemington Fur Co. opened its doors to sell the fur coats it made there.The outlet became an East Coast shopping mecca. These days it sells a $10,500 mink coat for a mere $7,895. Furs were not enough to save Flemington. In the mid-1970s, when the town was losing business to shopping malls...
...stock up on Fieldcrest sheets; Philadelphia Main Liners trek some 40 miles for Harve Benard outfits. Suburban moms motor in for the kids' Nike running shoes, and senior citizens on bus tours from as far away as central Pennsylvania buy Carter's clothing for grandchildren. Even given the discounts, Flemington merchants grossed about $100 million last year, and they expect to do better this year...
Liberty Village, the commercial heart of Flemington, is somewhat of a surprise. Meandering over several acres of former farmland, the pleasant re- creation of a colonial marketplace boasts wide brick sidewalks, several luncheon stops and plenty of rest rooms. Long gone are the pipe racks and jumbled bins of second-quality merchandise in dusty warehouses. Since the manufacturers are selling their own goods, the stores are well stocked and well organized. Says Jean Smith, the manager of Liberty Village: "Mostly we have last season's styles and production overruns." Indeed, "Flemington is not competing with K mart," says Fran Durst...
...Flemington shoppers have their own styles and strategies. Holly Hayden, an insurance-company computer operator from Monmouth County, an hour's drive away, visits the shops three or four times a year to see what's new. Browsing through the Revere Ware outlet on this Saturday, she's looking for a wedding gift for a friend. "I shop Flemington generically," she says. "This gift has to be tableware, so I'll get the best things I can find here, or at Royal Doulton or Waterford...