Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Tanger
Search every verified Leslie Gallardo interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Leslie Gallardo, as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Tanger, has been involved in the company's recent strategic shifts, as described by CEO Stephen Yalof in September 2024 interviews. Yalof stated that Tanger has been "reinventing" its centers by adding more food, entertainment, and other uses to attract customers, and has been focusing on "merchandising more to a local customer" rather than relying solely on tourists. He noted that the company acquired a shopping center in Huntsville, Alabama, and built a new one in Nashville, Tennessee, citing population growth in the "Southern corridor." Yalof described the outlet consumer as an "aspirational" customer seeking value, and said Tanger is working to attract a younger demographic by adding brands like Sephora, which he said would be the first in an outlet environment. He also mentioned that apparel categories, including athleisure brands like Athleta and Vuori, have been performing well, and that the company has increased "conspicuous security" in response to retail theft in certain geographies.
“The outlet consumer is an aspirational consumer, a customer looking for the brands they love at the best possible value. That's what draws them into our shopping centers.”
“Now, what we're finding, and as you look at some of the variety we've added to the centers, the diversification of brands, and you mentioned Sephora, that customer is looking for a more rounded experience when they come to visit us.”
“Because of that, we're seeing customers come, stay longer, come during the week. That's why that food and beverage part of our business seems to be doing better than it has in the past.”
“People can sit on the couch and shop all day if that's what they choose to do, so you really have to be special and you have to provide things not only for the shopper, but for that carload of people that come with the shopper.”
“There's also a customer looking for a better food and beverage, wants to sit and watch a ball game, wants to play, putt, go to a driving range. All those uses are popping up around our centers, whether we're developing them or the adjacent developers.”
“This will be the first Sephora in an outlet environment. The Sephora business will be a full-price business in our outlets. I think what they identified is the customer I'm trying to differentiate for you, the aspirational customer that's new.”
“We're the location in some tertiary markets. We're finding we get the bulk of the customer but they're looking for more of a rounded experience as they come and shop with us.”
“You see some brands B to B and B to C. We're trying to get a younger customer in without alienating our core customer but you definitely want a younger customer. In order to get the younger customer, you need brands they want. We see Sephora as a great driver of a younger customer.”
“What we're finding particularly in our portfolio is apparel is really winning. The brands winning are American Eagle is winning, Gap and Gap brands are winning. Gap is going through this amazing resurgence with the new leadership over there.”
“People want to get out and enjoy -- what we've done in the past year, 18 months, we reinvented our centers. Where it was typical power shopping experience in the outlets, particularly, we've gone after more food, more entertainment, different uses in the center so people have more reasons to come and we're seeing them...”
“I think there's a suburbanization of America, and because of that our centers play right to the communities where a lot of people are moving or spending a lot more time.”
“We just bought a shopping center in Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville, Alabama, is growing because a lot of people are moving to that geography. Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, one of the fastest growing cities in the country right now. We just built a new shopping center in Nashville as well.”
“We're merchandising more to a local customer where the outlet narrative used to be a lot more tourist driven. We see that tourist coming out of Nashville and shopping our center, but that local customer who's shopping far more frequently, staying longer when they're there and obviously spending a lot more money.”
“We're seeing great growth with Gap. Gap reported their numbers and their international business was not as good as their U.S. business. And we see a lot of trends in our U.S. business as well. In fact, in the past month, Gap business has been very strong.”
“Athleisure has been a great category and a great leader for us. We recently have done deals with Athleta and Vuori. We have a number of other athleisure brands that have full brick and mortar stores now looking to join the outlet space.”
Tanger CEO Stephen Yalof joins 'Money Movers' to discuss the state of the consumer from Yalof's vantage point, if the outlet ...
Tanger CEO Stephen Yalof joins 'Money Movers' to discuss consumer spending trends, building shopping centers, and where he ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Leslie Gallardo.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →