Outlets North Phoenix: New Stores Reshaping Anthem's Mall

One recent visitor described the shopping center at I-17 and Anthem Way as "on life support," pointing to rows of dark storefronts and wondering out loud whether it would recover at all. That take isn't an outlier. It shows up often enough in reviews from the pandemic years that it built its own reputation, one that can linger even as the picture changes.

The property's own leasing office tells a newer story. In a December 2024 announcement, Outlets North Phoenix said six new tenants had opened or signed leases over the previous year, a jump ownership calls a 20 percent increase in occupancy compared to the year before. Both versions are true. The empty storefronts residents remember were real. So is the fill-in that followed. What's worth paying attention to is what's actually moving into those spaces, because it isn't more of what left.

From New River Outlets to Outlets North Phoenix

The center opened in 1996 as New River Outlets, back when Anthem itself was still a young master-planned community rather than a name most Valley residents recognized. Craig Realty Group, the Newport Beach company that still owns it, bought the property in 2002 and eventually renamed it Outlets at Anthem. Old marketing copy leaned hard into the idea of a rest stop, describing the center as a place to grab a bathroom break and a sandwich on the drive between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

That framing stopped making sense as the surrounding area filled in. In early 2023 the center rebranded again, this time to Outlets North Phoenix, a name change ownership tied directly to how much the north Valley had grown around it. The physical footprint hasn't changed. It's still a 293,000-square-foot outdoor center. What has changed is the count of who's actually renting space inside it.

At its peak, marketing for the property advertised more than 60 designer brand shops. Craig Realty's current listing for the center puts the number at 55 or more, anchored by legacy names Anthem shoppers would still recognize: Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, Coach, Columbia, Gap, Guess, Levi's, Michael Kors, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Skechers, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour and Vans. That's a modest step down from the old headline number, and it matches what reviewers from the leaner years described: familiar brands still standing, with real gaps around them.

The Six Names That Actually Moved In

Here's what filled part of that gap, as detailed in The Foothills Focus's report on the center's December 2024 tenant announcement:

Two of those six are clothing. The other four bring a mix of retail and services beyond outlet apparel. A plumbing supply showroom and a med spa don't compete for the same customer as a discount Coach store. Neither does an indoor play center built around ball pits and climbing structures. JoAnn Truax, the center's director of real estate operations, said in a KTAR report that the addition of service options meant shoppers could "take care of the many tasks on their to-do list without making multiple stops." That's not the language of an outlet mall trying to win back apparel shoppers. It's the language of a property repositioning itself as a place people run errands, not just browse racks.

Why a Plumbing Supply Showroom Landed at an Outlet Mall

The center's own explanation for the growth points to something bigger than any single lease. Truax has repeated the same reasoning across multiple announcements: the growth ties to development in North Phoenix connected to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's plant, which has drawn workers and new households to the corridor around I-17. Whether or not that single project explains all of it, the tenant mix backs up the underlying idea. A neighborhood absorbing new residents needs plumbing supplies and pediatric-friendly play spaces at least as much as it needs another rack of discounted jeans.

Truax also said in December 2024 that the leasing team was in talks with additional retailers and service providers, and expected the next 24 months to bring more of the same kind of growth. That window runs through roughly the end of this year, which means the mix documented here is a snapshot, not a finish line.

What's Actually Around the Corner Now

If you're already headed to Anthem Way for the outlets, the surrounding stretch offers more than a shopping stop. Legends Bar & Grill bills itself as the oldest restaurant in Anthem, now run by local families who took it over and rebuilt the menu while keeping its role as a sports-bar-and-family-dinner standby. A few minutes away, Anthem Community Park's Big Splash Water Park runs its splash pad from roughly March through October, weather permitting, free for Anthem residents and open to guests for a small fee when accompanied by one, according to the Anthem Community Council's own parks page. The same park is home to the Daisy Mountain Railroad, a miniature train that circles the grounds, and the Anthem Veterans Memorial, both regular stops for families who treat the outlets as one piece of a longer afternoon out rather than the whole trip.

None of that erases the empty storefronts some residents still picture when they think of the center. It just means the picture is a few years out of date, and the businesses filling in the gaps aren't the ones anyone expected.

If you're weighing what a corner of Anthem near I-17 looks like day to day, from the shopping center to the park to the restaurants that have stuck around for decades, that kind of ground-level detail is exactly what Valley Leaders tracks for clients thinking about this part of North Phoenix. Reach out if you want the fuller picture before your next stop on Anthem Way.