Our History: Steven L. Craig

Our story is the culmination of the entrepreneurial spirit of our founder and President/CEO, Steven L. Craig.   It is his vision that fosters excellence, attention to detail and the desire to be the best in both our centers and our people.

From 1984-1993, Mr. Craig was a partner in Ginsburg Craig, a company under which the highly successful Desert Hills Premium Outlets, located in Cabazon, CA, was developed.   This partnership ultimately blossomed into a five-center portfolio of successful outlets.

In 1993, Mr. Craig and his associates merged into another, larger company named Chelsea Property Group (formerly Chelsea GCA Realty, Inc.), now a subsidiary of Simon Properties, where Mr. Craig was the Chief Operating Officer and Director.  Their portfolio included the still-successful Camarillo Premium Outlets, in Camarillo, CA.   There were four additional outlets in the Chelsea CGA venture across the United States.

In 1995, Mr. Craig decided to build a company of his own…and Craig Realty Group was born.  By late 1997, we had completed the development of Craig Realty Group’s tremendously successful center Carlsbad Company Stores.   This 300,000 square foot, $50 million center was three years in the making and has been informally characterized by industry observers as the most architecturally attractive factory outlet center built to-date.   The sales performance at this center has consistently been more than double the industry average.

Today, Craig Realty Group owns and operates 15 outlet centers in 8 states for nearly 5 million square feet, with future development encompassing more than 1 million square feet of retail and restaurant space.   The much-anticipated Outlets at Traverse Mountain Grand Opened on November 16, 2012, to huge crowds. The newest property – the award-winning Outlets at San Clemente – opened in November 2015 and offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

We invite you to share our history and the fantastic world of outlet shopping we created by visiting our centers.   We created them for you... our shoppers... our communities.

We hope you find great bargains and a day of fun!