Those visiting the Outlets at Vicksburg will see a new face in the office to match the new plans for the shopping destination. 

In light of former manager Margaret Gilmer’s retirement after 20 years with the outlets, a new general manager is taking the reigns. Jerry Chambers, who began work on Wednesday, brings more than 15 years of sales and managerial experience to his new position at the outlets, which he said would translate well.

“We want to continue all of the strong work that has been done and just make it better by bringing some new venues in and fresh life,” he said of his plans. “We’re trying to figure out what that looks like. [We are looking into] things that will bring in some of the younger crowd and bring some of the tourism back over this way.”

Chambers said he hopes to arrange for Vicksburg’s trolley system to stop at the outlets as one way to accomplish those goals.

“It’s a growth idea,” he said. “We want to keep growing and growing. We want to keep what we’ve got and keep building on it.”

Chambers, who once worked for the Vicksburg Police Department, is returning to Vicksburg after spending 15 years in south Florida managing condominiums.

He said pushing for growth would likely be the biggest challenge of his new position.

“The biggest challenge is to bring more people in, to reach out with the marketing and bring in something like a TGI Fridays,” he said. “They’re everywhere else, but why aren’t they here? It’s definitely doable. It’s just going to take strategy to get to that point.”

Though the plan predates him, Chambers is taking over management as a new store is being added to the Outlets at Vicksburg. Westpoint Home, a home products store, is set to open Monday, and Tina Blades, area manager for the company, has been hard at work preparing the store for Vicksburg residents.

“We’re going to be ready Monday regardless of if we have to be here all night, every night until then,” she said.