By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Clothing, fly fishing and other product retailer Orvis has opened a 5,000-square-foot store in the Princeton Shopping Center.
Orvis spokeswoman Daryl Kenny said Thursday that the company believes the Shopping Center is an “excellent location” to open just the second Orvis store in New Jersey. The other is in Marlton.
“We’re delighted to be in the Princeton area,” she said.
She said the company has a strong customer base in the region in its online and catalog business. The area’s demographic, of high income earners, would seem to fit the high-end retailer that sells a range of clothing, gifts, furnishing and other products for people who enjoy the outdoors.
On Thursday morning, store employees joined Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Peter M. Crowley and president of the Princeton Merchants Association John Marshall for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. During the grand opening weekend celebration that starts Friday, the store will raffle off a $1,000 store gift card and have other promotions, including giving away shopping tote bags, with a purchase.
As part of its corporate citizenship, the company said it is donating 5 percent of all proceeds from “in-store purchases” during the opening weekend to pet shelter, SAVE, A Friend to Homeless Animals.
The company traces its roots to a rod and tackle shop that founder Charles Orvis started in 1856, in Manchester, Vermont. Since then, Orvis has grown to more than 80 stores in the United States and in the United Kingdom, Ms. Kenny said.
Orvis is coming to a shopping center that is owned by South Carolina-based Edens. The owner since 2012, Edens is in the midst of giving the Center a facelift, which includes traffic circulation improvements. Also, there are plans to put a Nomad Pizza where a former gas station on the property was located.
