Guess is opening a factory outlet store in the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley.

The store is targeting a mid-November opening in space directly east of the Van's store facing the roundabout water fountain at the shopping complex at the 120 Bypass and Union Road.

The closest Guess-owned store is GbyGuess in Modesto's Vintage Faire Mall and a Guess store in Pleasanton's Stoneridge Mall. The only other valley-based retailers that carry the Guess line within 50 miles of Manteca are Macy's stores in Modesto and Stockton as well as Dillard's in Stockton.

The nearest factory outlet Guess location to Manteca is the Vacaville Outlets.

A Poag & McEwen representative noted Guess plans to be open in time for the Christmas shopping season and would be hiring locally.

Poag & McEwen is the Orchard Valley developer. They have partnered with Craig Realty that owns as well as manages upscale outlet malls throughout the West to fill the nearly 40 in-line tenant locations with outlet stores. The first outlet was Van's that relocated to Manteca a year ago from the Tracy Outlets.

Poag & McEwen shifted its marketing focus to outlet stores to take advantage of the regional drawing power of Bass Pro Shops. The Manteca store draws in excess of 2 million visitors a year from up to 100 miles away. It is the same reach that outlet malls target.
The partnership with Craig Realty was just getting underway when the recession hit.

"Its good news," noted City Manager Karen McLaughlin. "There aren't very many cities out there right now that are getting new businesses to open."

McLaughlin said she took her son shopping at Van's several weeks ago and was surprised to see how crowded the store was.