This Beloved Outlet Mall Hasn’t Aged Well

Howell — The Kensington Valley Outlets in Howell, once one of the most popular outlet malls in the state, is turning 30 this year. I hope it can make it to 31.

Most 30-year-olds look great, but this one isn’t aging well. The Howell outlet mall, which opened in 1996, once had about 90 stores, but it’s down to just 45 now. And not all of them are outlet stores—there’s also a dance studio, a nail salon, a photography place, a resale shop, and several niche local stores.

As someone who has been going to this mall since the day it opened—and I have a personal connection there—this makes me sad. I know nothing about the business of running a mall, but I know what I see, and what I see is a once-thriving mall that now appears to be on life support.

You’ll occasionally see a new store open (never an outlet), but there are old ones closing all the time. A bunch of stores closed earlier this year, including my favorite place, the Eddie Bauer outlet—the company is going through bankruptcy.

My entire wardrobe came from that store. (And come to think of it, that might be what killed them. I’m not exactly the kind of guy you want advertising your brand.)

Back when it opened, though, this place was the bomb. As I said, I had a personal connection, too.

The Howell outlet mall opened on Nov. 15, 1996, and they decided to kick it all off with a day full of speeches and performances. This took place on a big stage inside the food court they used to have there. The star of the show was Bob McGrath of “Sesame Street,” who sang a bunch of songs with local kids dancing along.

One of the other performances was a selection of musical numbers from the Community Theatre of Howell’s production of “Guys and Dolls,” which was going up that week. Yours truly played Nathan Detroit, and my wife was Adelaide in that production, so we both got to help christen the mall.

And yes, performing musical-theater numbers in an outlet mall food court was certainly the highlight of my life.

In any case, backed by my singing and dancing that day, the outlet mall got off to a grand and glorious start, and it quickly became a go-to destination for people all over the state.

The mall is in Livingston County, but I think that damn near everybody in Michigan has been there at least once in the last 30 years. Located at the intersection of I-96 and M-59, it’s really easy to get to, and it’s less than an hour away from Metro Detroit.

It’s been especially popular for those of us who live in Livingston County. I’ve done most of my Christmas shopping there every year since 1996, and as I said, I made numerous trips to the Eddie Bauer outlet to stock up on khaki pants and Oxford shirts.

It was always a hassle having to deal with the hordes of autograph-seekers—“Hey! You’re the guy who played Nathan Detroit!”—but I managed to deal with it.

There were so many great stores at the Howell outlet mall that have come and gone through the years, but I have to say that I miss the food court most of all (even more than Eddie Bauer).

The food court was a separate building right in the middle of the property, and it had a Sbarro and a hot-dog place and even some kiddie rides. There was even a golf store there. It was great.

They tore it down about 15 years ago, leaving all of Livingston County without a single place to get Sbarro. We have to go clear to Ann Arbor or Okemos to get overpriced chain-restaurant Italian food now. Life is rough.

In its place, though, they built a nine-hole mini-golf course, and it’s actually one of the cooler things about the current mall. It gives dad and the kids something to do while mom visits the couple dozen stores that are still there.

So the Howell outlet mall is struggling, and I know they’re not alone. Malls all over the place are in rough shape.

There are only a handful of true outlet malls in Michigan. In addition to the Kensington Valley Outlets in Howell, we have the Birch Run Premium Outlets near Frankenmuth; Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills; the West Branch Outlet Shops up north; and Tanger Outlets in Grand Rapids.

A quick check of their websites shows that Birch Run, Great Lakes Crossing, and Tanger Outlets appear to be doing OK. The West Branch outlet mall, though, seems to be struggling even worse than Howell. Only about a dozen stores remain and only three of them are factory outlets.

For what it’s worth, there are still a handful of great stores to visit in Howell. The Nike outlet always draws a crowd, and Gap, Old Navy, H&M and a few others are also going strong.

Some of the locally based shops are also cool, and hey, we have a mini-golf course! It won’t take you nearly as long to see everything, but it’s still worth a trip.

You’ll also want to visit downtown Howell when you come, and there’s some irony here. Back when the outlet mall opened in 1996, everyone was worried that it would kill downtown Howell.

Well, downtown Howell is thriving. Almost every storefront is filled, and USA Today recently ranked it among the five Best Main Streets in America. The outlet mall most certainly didn’t kill downtown Howell. Maybe it was the other way around.

Or maybe it was just Covid and Amazon and changing shopping habits. Whatever the case, I’m hoping things somehow turn around and the Howell outlet mall is able to make it another 30 years.

And if they need me to come and sing some more songs from “Guys and Dolls,” I’m willing to do my part. Hey, anything to help the cause.