Beall's Outlets sister to open store in Lutz

By BILL COATS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 17, 2001

LUTZ -- A factory outlet chain has chosen Sunset Plaza and a Lakeland location for the first Burke's Outlets in Florida.

The Lutz store is to open in mid July in space vacated by Video View Movies.

Burke's Outlets, which has 33 stores in seven other sunbelt states, is a sister chain of Beall's Outlets. Both are owned by the Bradenton-based Beall's Inc. While the Beall's Outlets cater to retirees, the Burke's Outlets target younger shoppers, with as much as a third of the space devoted to children's clothing, said Peggy Colburn, Beall's vice president for marketing.

"We are trying to target a younger customer than the typical Beall's Outlet has focused on," Colburn said. "We aren't focusing on the 50-plus customer, as we have in the past."

But like Beall's Outlets, the Burke's group will feature factory-outlet fare from merchandise overruns and seasonal close-outs, deeply discounted from department store prices, she said.

Colburn said 20 more Burke's Outlets are to open in Florida in the year after the Lutz opening, and the success of the Lutz and Lakeland stores will help determine whether all open as Burke's Outlets or some switch to Beall's Outlets.

"We're sort of testing the waters with these two just to see what the community response is and what happens," she said.

At 10,000 square feet, the Lutz Burke's will be smaller than average. Colburn said the chain aims to build Burke's Outlets up to 15,000 square feet, larger than a Beall's Outlet. That's to accommodate more clothes for children and adolescents, shoes and bigger home and gift departments.

Gary Wilson, a co-owner of Video View, said the video rental store was profitable, but he and his partners decided to close it for a variety of reasons as their lease expired. The partnership still has stores in Clearwater and East Tampa.

- Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 226-3469 or coats@sptimes.com.

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