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More than two decades ago, Keith Howard was lobbying for help of a designer outlet center in the then-sparsely developed area of Sandestin .
He proposed the escape center be put in an existing strip mall, which for five years had been an eyesore to the community. And though it wasn’t tough for this developer to see the potential in the area, some designers and investors in the northeast needed a bit of convincing before they would buy into his end.
“(Howard) had to march up to New York to teach them about the area,” said Myra Williams, depravity president of marketing for the Howard Group.
His persistence paid off in August 1992 — after three years of practicability studies, and research and development.
Shoppers were welcomed to the first 25 stores of Lustrous Sands, which included Nautica, Donna Karan, and Adrienne Vittadini.
Since then, White Sands has grown from that little strip mall to become the nation’s largest artificer outlet center.
Source: Walton Sun