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They also say vacant stores, the lack of restaurants and other issues prevent more customers from shopping there.
But they have hope for the future.
Last week, the center won approval for a new zoning designation from the Beaufort County Planning Commission that will make plans to tear down the outlet mall easier. The new zoning still needs to be approved by the Beaufort County Council; a development plan also will need the county's approval.
Tanger's plans call for knocking down the 191,000-square-foot outlet mall, and building a 222,000-square-foot center on its 25 acres off U.S. 278. The new center also would have outlots for restaurants.
A new, more modern center with restaurants and other amenities will make shoppers want to stay longer, something that will help all the stores, said Tamika Powell, assistant manager at the Reader's Digest Outlet bookstore.
"Restaurants will definitely help out because (they) will draw more people in to shop after a meal," she said.
Sally Graham, manager of the Tumi outlet, said the store had good traffic when it first opened about seven years ago. Recently, however, traffic has fallen off, she said.
A new center should reverse that. "I'm ready to get started," Graham said.
The manager at The Uniform Source is looking forward to a new center, but fears what will happen to business during construction. The store has dealt with a leaky roof, a broken air conditioner and walls too weak or too rotted to hold up shelving, said manager Mia Jenkins.
In a new center, "we won't have to worry about the roof leaking or the A.C. breaking," she said.
And even though stores will be moved around to currently vacant space and stay open during construction, Jenkins is concerned business could be hurt if customers find it's difficult to get in and out of the center.
But the regional manager of a company that represents two stores in the outlet mall said it sorely needs to be fixed. One of her stores moved to a new location in the mall just a few months ago and many of the new ceiling tiles installed already show water stains from a leaky roof.
"We need the mall to be freshened up," said the manager, who wouldn't give her name because of corporate policy.
Walter Nester, the attorney representing Tanger, said plans for the new center include a sprinkler system -- something missing now -- and more durable construction materials than the current wood.
The center, which is at least 30 percent empty, according to management, also doesn't have enough stores to attract shoppers, said Powell.
While people who work daily at the center notice problems with air conditioning and the roofs, some shoppers say they don't see those things.
"There's nothing visibly that I can even distinguish between the two (Tanger centers)," said Diane Grzybek of Pittsburgh, who was visiting Hilton Head Island during her annual island vacation.
Marty Stockman, visiting from the Philadelphia area, said he was pleased by the mix of shops at Tanger 1.
And he didn't think the center, which was built in 1988, looked outdated.
"I think it looks fine," he said.
