St. Louis Premium Outlets will expand their stores sometime in 2015, Erin Zimmermann, director of marketing and business development at St. Louis Premium Outlets, said.

However, it has yet to be determined which stores will be moving into the outlets, when construction will begin and how much this expansion will cost. Despite rumors, the new construction will not expand into Rombachs Farm.

“We are excited to expand on our existing 90 designer and name brand stores,” Zimmermann said. “We are confident that the new stores will enhance what we already have to offer shoppers.”

All existing stores will still be open for business during construction. Zimmermann said St. Louis Premium Outlets has been seeing strong sales and traffic since their opening in August of last year.

“We are focused on our center and its success,” Zimmermann said, “and hope that our success will carry over into the community and help bring people to shop at our center and in the surrounding area.”

The competition between the two outlet malls and the Chesterfield Mall has only made the Valley stronger as a retail and tourism destination, Libbey Tucker, community services and economic development director for the Chesterfield city government, said.

“The outlet malls have added a new dimension to retail not just in Chesterfield, but the region,” Tucker said. “People may choose to make a weekend out of it for shopping, spas, dining and see other tourism attractions in Chesterfield and the St. Louis region. It’s definitely increased our presence to be known for retail tourism.”

Generally, sales at other retailers and restaurants in the Valley have been up as well, Tucker said. Economists have predicted retail shopping will be up this year over last.

Tucker said based on her personal experiences at the two outlet, the holiday shopping season is off to a great start; however, she does not receive sales tax funds until  two months after they occur, so she will not know the final numbers until February.

Sophomore Sydney Munden said she rarely goes to any mall now, probably only two or three times a month. She hopes a Patagonia store or a Nordstrom Rack is added to the St. Louis Premium Outlets.

There’s definitely a ‘good’ outlet mall and a ‘bad’ one, Munden said, St. Louis Premium Outlets being the better one.

“The [St. Louis Premium Outlets] just has a bigger variety of stores,” Munden said. “The other one has a lot of house stores, like I don’t want to go buy a mattress at an outlet mall.