Business

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
Andrew M. Seder on Facebook   |   @TLAndrewSeder on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Until now, the closest residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania could get to Lord & Taylor merchandise was to drive past the retailer’s 600,000-square-foot distribution center on Highland Park Boulevard.

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Katie Grilli, of Wilkes-Barre, browses through some women’s apparel with her 20-month-old daughter Olivia King at the Lord & Taylor clearance tent sale at its Wilkes-Barre Township distribution center on Thursday afternoon.

Bill Tarutis / For The Times Leader

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Krista Douthat of Denver, N.C., left, and her brother, Kyle Douthat of Berwick, laugh after her failed attempt to remove a boot several sizes too small from the foot of Krista Krolikowski of Berwick at the Lord & Taylor clearance tent sale at its Wilkes-Barre Township distribution center on Thursday afternoon.

Bill Tarutis / For The Times Leader

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That changed Thursday when the company opened its first merchandise clearance center at the site just off I-81, near the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. An outdoor tent sale will remain open through Sunday, and on Monday, the 8,000-square-foot indoor outlet will open.

Company spokeswoman Lori Rhodes said the merchandise available at the center are items that were on sale at Lord & Taylor stores throughout the country but didn’t sell in a timely fashion, even when placed on the clearance racks. So they’re being shipped back to the distribution center – where many of them originally were stored before being trucked to stores – to see if they can be sold to local residents, who have to drive at least an hour to visit a Lord & Taylor retail store.

Rhodes said growth in the Wilkes-Barre market since the distribution center opened 18 years ago has exploded and the company decided it would be an “ideal location” to open its first clearance center.

Available space at the center also made the option feasible.

Ten people were hired to work at the new outlet, which will be open from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Lord & Taylor employs about 200 people at the local distribution center and has 46 stores in nine states. The nearest Lord & Taylor store to Wilkes-Barre is 73 miles east in Rockaway, N.J.