Outlet malls usually stay out of the headlines. Tanger Inc. just pulled them into the spotlight with a second outlook upgrade this year.
The Greensboro, North Carolina-based company, which runs off-price outlet centers, now expects to earn more than it did just a few months ago. The reason, CEO Stephen Yalof says, is that shoppers are showing up early and in bigger numbers.
"In the outlet business, we look at back to school as a huge shopper holiday," Yalof said in an interview. "We have early back to school, much like everybody has early Christmas and holiday shopping."
When back-to-school shopping starts to look like the holiday season, it is a big deal for outlets. That is normally their busiest time of year, and when stores sell more, the company that owns the malls feels it directly.
The stronger traffic showed up in Tanger's second-quarter results, released August 4, 2026.
The company's core funds from operations, or FFO, a common profit gauge for real estate investment trusts, or REITs, hit $0.64 per share. That topped the $0.61 analysts expected and was 10% higher than a year earlier.
Retailers added their own discounts on top of the usual outlet price cuts, and it worked. Average tenant sales at Tanger's centers rose 5% for the quarter.
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Tanger also raised its full-year guidance.
The World Cup gave Tanger a boost, and so did a strong run of movies. Families turned trips to the cinema into trips to the mall, with Toy Story 5 and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey drawing extra visitors.
Travel helped too. Yalof said conflicts in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Middle East have been less damaging than feared and actually pushed more tourists toward U.S. destinations near Tanger properties.
Tanger is not just waiting for shoppers to show up. In May, it bought a 301,000-square-foot mall in the Toledo, Ohio area for about $60 million.
The company is also building out a collection of full-priced shopping centers, a step beyond its traditional outlet business. Retailers, meanwhile, are getting more eager to lease space.
Yalof says department stores are shrinking, new construction is slow, and rising costs for brands all point the same direction.
"The least expensive way to put product in front of a consumer is in a brick and mortar environment," he said.
The logic is simple. A store that pulls its own shoppers can be cheaper for a brand than endless online discounts and shipping deals.
For investors, the lesson is not that malls are back, exactly. It is that outlet centers are holding up better than the broader retail story suggests.
A REIT like Tanger makes money by owning properties and collecting rent. Stronger foot traffic and higher tenant sales support both rent and the value of the centers.
The raised guidance is a sign the company sees that momentum continuing. But there are risks.
Tanger is leaning on tourism, movie releases, and discount-hunting shoppers, all of which can shift quickly. Its move into full-priced centers is also a bet that it can succeed outside its usual territory.
The report is still a useful reminder that retail real estate is not one story. Some parts of the market are finding ways to get people through the door, and investors are getting paid for it.
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