Gurnee Mills

Gurnee Mills at Interstate 94 in Lake County, Illinois, is one of the less common format combinations at significant scale in US retail: a 1.93 million square foot enclosed circuit that combines Floor and Decor, Hobby Lobby, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Kohl’s as big-box anchors with a conventional outlet and off-price fashion floor — a structure that generates two structurally different visit occasions within the same property, operated by Simon Property Group.

Floor and Decor and Hobby Lobby produce the home improvement and craft visit, which brings the household-budget consumer on a functional trip that has no inherent fashion component but generates co-purchase opportunity across the adjacent outlet floor. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Kohl’s extend that functional visit base into sporting goods and general merchandise categories. The result is a visit frequency profile more typical of a power centre or lifestyle property than an outlet-only mall, sustaining consistent weekday and Saturday traffic independent of outlet promotion cycles.

The outlet and off-price fashion register covers Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria’s Secret, H and M, Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, Abercrombie and Fitch Outlet, Hollister Outlet, and Primark. Macy’s, with a Macy’s Backstage off-price section, holds the primary department store position. The entertainment tier includes Marcus Theatres, Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park, Rainforest Cafe, and Round 1.

The northern Illinois trade area combines Lake County’s approximately 700,000 residents — concentrated in Waukegan, Gurnee, Libertyville, and Vernon Hills — with the Milwaukee metropolitan southern suburbs that I-94 delivers within 30 minutes. The big-box anchors attract a household that would not make a periodic outlet trip but will make a weekly home improvement or sporting goods visit, and the outlet fashion floor captures that repeat traffic at a co-tenancy productivity level that pure destination-outlet properties cannot sustain.