Renovated outlet mall offers relaxed shopping experience

Shopping, especially at the outlets, isn’t typically something someone thinks of as relaxing. Long lines, poor parking and crowds of people sounds more accurate. But, the new and improved Desert Hills Premium Outlets in Cabazon redefine that.

“It doesn’t feel like an outlet mall,” said Jennifer Duhaime who came all the way from Phoenix to shop.

After 18 months, a $100 million renovation is now behind the Desert Hills Premium Outlets in Cabazon.

Mike Avila has worked at the bargain hunters mecca for 15 years. He said he’s faced one problem up until now.

“As an employee we used to be parking way up high in dirt fields,” said Avila.

But, that is no longer the case. Parking was the first thing Duhaime noticed when she arrived to shop.

“I love the lights in the parking garage, too,” she said. “The green lights and the red lights where cars are parked that was fantastic.”

The four story parking structure can hold up to 2,000 cars. It’s about the size of three football fields in length. Elizabeth Perkovich, Director of Marketing and Business Development, said there’s enough space for everyone now — even during the busy holiday season.

“With all this additional parking it has just created a wonderful customer experience,” she said.

Another improvement at the outlets is the almost complete walkway that connects the two shopping areas.

“What we have done is added escalators and additional stairs so that we can move the people much quicker as they cross the street from the east village to the west village,” explained Perkovich.

According to Perkovich, it should be complete by the end of 2014.

“The overall experience is more of an outdoor mall rather than an outlet mall,” concluded Duhaime.

The Desert Hills Premium Outlets also offers valet parking on weekends and holidays.