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SALT LAKE CITY - Thousands of people turned out for the opening day of City Creek Center and they didn't hesitate to open their wallets. Retailers and restaurants at City Creek Center were more than pleased with their opening day sales, and some say they tripled their projected sales Thursday.
Overall attendance at the shopping center was much higher than early estimates. Greeters handed out 100,000 store directory maps to visitors, doubling the estimate of 50,000 people attending the opening.
And though stores won't release specific sales numbers, many said they were more than pleased with turnout for day one.
At Chick-Fil-A, employees cheered and rang cow bells dozens of times throughout the day - signaling a free meal for one customer. Every 100th customer receives a free meal at the fast food chain, and they sold about 4,000 meals Thursday.
- Michael Kors sold 100 purses by 3:00 p.m.
- bebe and 77kids by American Eagle hit sales goal for the day within one hour opening
- The Cheesecake Factory had over 100 people in line at 11:30 a.m. and served over 1,000 pieces of cheesecake to 3,500 people
- Godiva Chocolates sold more than 1,000 pieces of chocolate
- Chick-Fil-A sold more than 4,000 meals
"That was a great day," said Andrew Allman, owner-operator of the Chick-Fil-A in City Creek. "We broke a lot of grand opening sales records with Chick-Fil-A, so that's a lot of chicken sandwiches."
Over at Godiva Chocolates, customers bought more than 1,000 pieces of chocolate of one type or another.
By 3 p.m., the the Michael Kors store reported 100 purses already out the door.
Foot Locker, with 47 stores scattered across the country, recorded an all-time opening day record.
At Tiffany and Co. thousands came and went throughout the day. A couple of engagement rings sold, as well as a couple of yellow diamonds -- which aren't cheap!
Julie Peterson, Director, Tiffany & Co.:"It's such a unique color and very rare," said Tiffyany & Co. Director Julie Peterson. "We had people who wanted to come in and see those, and someone actually bought one based on the fact that when they got in, it was better than they expected."
Customers lined up an hour before the new Cheesecake Factory opened. Throughout the day, 3,500 customers dropped in to try out the 40 types of cheesecake, buying more than 1,000 slices of the dessert.
"We had to actually open a few minutes early yesterday, and we filled the restaurant in about 20 minutes," said Cheesecake Factory Director of Operations Shannon Venturo.
Some estimate Friday sales may be even better than day one, and that the center is off to a very good start.
