Why go to Riverhead?
Aside from complaints about traffic congestion, the Italian-style outlet center -- which also boasts an IMAX theater, ice-skating rink and popular big box stores such as Christmas Tree Shops -- proved a big hit over the weekend and at Thursday's ribbon-cutting.
"I thought it was fantastic," gushed Melissa Russett, an English teacher from Hauppauge. "I'm one of those real bargain shoppers and I was really very impressed with it."
Ms. Russett, 28, who said she normally visits the Riverhead outlets "a few times a year," said she timed the trip to The Arches from her house by car even before the center opened.
It took only 10 minutes, she said.
When asked if she would return to Riverhead, a 45-minute drive from her Hauppauge home, her answer was simple: "No."
"They have all the same stores here, and I think the layout is better," she said. "In Riverhead, everything is separate, where in this one you can walk it from in and out. I liked it. I loved it.
"I'm going back tomorrow."
Lori Onesto, 31, of Deer Park said it would be an obvious waste of time for her to still commute to Riverhead's Tanger to shop, seeing she lives about a mile and half from The Arches.
But she was also concerned that the new center's being closer to the city would also attract scores of other people who might otherwise shop in Riverhead -- and the traffic that could come with the shopping shift.
"For me, it's sheer convenience, but I'm concerned that the sheer convenience is going to stop people from Queens and Nassau and everywhere else from going out to Riverhead," she said.
Traffic concerns aside, Ms. Onesto said she was impressed with what the Tanger Outlet company had put together in Deer Park.
"It's more of a town square, versus just walking along the strip out in Riverhead," she said. "There's a lot more places to eat and more space. I don't see myself going out to Riverhead."
The women's words were exactly what employees at the Riverhead Tanger Outlet Center had feared, as reported in an article about the new outlets in last week's News-Review.
Many in Riverhead worry that the Deer Park center will cost them hours, sales commissions and even employees who might want to work farther west.
A manager at the Riverhead center insisted that the East End outlets would not lose business, citing different stores and a somewhat different clientele.
"The Riverhead center is the flagship for upscale and designer manufacturers," manager Janine Nebons said. "Deer Park doesn't have Coach and it doesn't have Polo and there's no Brooks Brothers."
Ms. Nebons also said the Tanger company and the employees in Riverhead are much better off today than if a competing company had won the rights to build a center in Deer Park, which could have been the case had Tanger not bid on the job.
She said the Tanger Outlets company can now tailor their centers so that they complement, rather than cannibalize, each other.
Reinforcing that the two centers are not in competition, Sarena Romano, a Tanger employee who was on hand at Thursday's grand opening, called the Deer Park center "a hybrid mall featuring regular price, discount and entertainment."
She added that more stores are expected to open there in time for Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving and the busiest shopping day of the year.
Only one shopper interviewed at the Deer Park center who had visited Riverhead said he would continue to head east to shop.
"I've been to the other Tanger many times," said the Dix Hills man, who gave his name only as Fredric. "In comparison, [Deer Park] is missing a lot and it's a smaller space."
However, another Deer Park shopper said, "This blows the other Tanger away completely."
Anastasia Hassell contributed to this article.
mwhite@timesreview.com