The decade long wait is over for shoppers.
Tulsa Premium Outlet Mall officially opened Thursday morning with a ribbon cutting and a drawing for a $1,000 shopping spree.
“When I first walked in I was like ‘wow this doesn’t feel like Tulsa," said life long Tulsan David Mason.
Green Country showed out for opening day to scope out the new shops and score some deal.
Mason was among the thousands that flocked to Jenks to check out the new shopping destination.
“We’ve never had anything like this in town," said Mason. "I was expecting some new stores, new clothing, new shoes, but I wasn’t expecting this many people."
Before the stores even opened at 10 a.m., eager shoppers were lining up for a chance to win a thousand dollar shopping spree.
Angie Brumley has been waiting for the outlet mall to open for years — since it was first set to be near Turkey Mountain.
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“I’m a Coach girly, so I haven’t been to a Coach outlet in a really long time so I’m kind of interested," said Brumley. "I’m excited about that and just everything. It’s nice to have a new shopping destination and not have to go all the way out to Woodland Hills or something like that.”
2 News also spoke with Stephen Shae, vice president of Simon Development. He explained the pandemic led to some of the setbacks in getting the mall open.
“We broke ground in 2019 and unfortunately we ran into the pandemic which put a full stop on just not our project but a lot of things nationally.”
Now, over 75 shops and restaurants are open to the public and Shae thinks it will bring a huge leap on Tulsa’s economy.
“We’re going to be dragging shoppers from everywhere not only from the greater Tulsa, Oklahoma City and from out of state. There’ll be quite an economic impact.”
And as the concern of traffic as Jenks Public Schools head back to school the same day, Shae said they worked closely with Jenks Police Department and OHP to keep the traffic flow smoothly.
“Jenks PD and the state have been cooperative and have a plan in place,” said Shae.
The main concern for months leading up to doors opening was traffic.
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We asked shoppers at opening day about their drive in.
“We just came down the Creek to here, very quick," said Brumley.
Mason had a smooth trip in too.
2 News asked him if he felt the amount of entrances and exits were sufficient for the crowds the mall is expected to draw. He said yes.
“It wasn’t that bad," said Mason. "You had people out there working to show you where to park so it was pretty seamless I’d say.”
Jenks resident Jandyn Salazar was surprised when she took her exit off the Creek Turnpike.
She had heard the early morning was hectic - with so many trying to win the shopping giveaway. But when she pulled into the mall, Salazar was pleasantly surprised.
“I expected it to be really crazy and it wasn’t at all," she said. "I mean, from the time that I got off the exit, got in it was maybe five minutes and I got a parking spot so no it ran pretty smooth.”
Jenks Police will have a presence at the mall through opening weekend to help with the crowds expected.
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