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Expectations High For City Creek Holiday Season

Andrea Smardon

City Creek Center is hosting its first ever Black Friday.  No one is quite sure how much money the Salt Lake City shopping center will bring in this holiday, but expectations are high.

Linda Wardell is General Manager of City Creek Center.  When asked about expectations for the holidays, she laughed. 

“It’s a great question,” said Wardell, “We still have a lot of first-time visitors to City Creek Center.  That does make it unique for us, and a bit daunting for us when we start thinking about our first time holiday season.”

Wardell talked about the magical holiday experience that City Creek aims to provide with its fountain shows, trees, lights, storytellers, and the 30-foot tall lantern which houses Santa Claus, but she demurred  when it came to specific sales numbers. 

“As far as our individual center results, we don’t talk about those specifically, but we are continuing to exceed our sales projections, and we’re very hopeful that will continue through the holidays,” said Wardell, “Based on what our retailers are telling us, that trend is continuing and we’re very excited about that.”

Nick Como is Communication Director at Salt Lake City’s Downtown Alliance.  He told KUER that no one knows what to expect from City Creek’s first holiday season.

“They have constantly exceeded expectations, whether it’s with their opening, or what they’ve planned for all their holiday decorations, so I think Black Friday is going to be the craziest Black Friday in the history of downtown Salt Lake,” said Como, “And for the people who are enthusiastic about it, they’re going to love it.”

Como described City Creek as the rising tide that lifts all boats, and he predicted record sales for Salt Lake City’s downtown merchants. 

“We’re ecstatic to have City Creek Center, we’re ecstatic that Main Street is back open and back in business, and bustling,” said Como, “It’s a great time in Salt Lake.  It’s like a renaissance for our city.”

City Creek is open for Black Friday from 8am to 10pm, and will have extended holiday hours into January.

Andrea Smardon is new at KUER, but she has worked in public broadcasting for more than a decade. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and news announcer for WGBH radio. While in Boston, she produced stories for Morning Edition, Marketplace Money, and The World. Her print work was published in The Boston Globe and Boston.com. Prior to that, she worked at Seattleââ
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