Next Stop: Shop Till You Drop -- All Aboard! Train Trip To Centralia For A Day Of Cruising The Malls Attracts Sellout Crowd

CENTRALIA - That Samuel Peizer! He sure knows how to treat his spouse on their wedding anniversary.

``Four years ago we went to the Orient,'' says Ruth, Peizer's wife of 44 years, smiling at her husband as they relax aboard Amtrak's Coast Starlight train.

``Two years ago we went to South America,'' she continues.

``And this year we went to Centralia.''

``Yes, and at least they speak English,'' Peizer allows.

That's not all they do in Centralia. Not now that the Amtrak Shoppers Special, of which the Peizers are inaugural customers, is running in the hopes of revitalizing this town of 12,000 into a ``destination shopping experience.''

But let's start at the beginning.

It's 10:40 a.m. Wednesday, and Amtrak's Bill Freeborn is clearly puzzled.

``Is there a major party down there in Centralia?'' Freeborn wonders as passenger after passenger - mostly women over 40 - announces they're headed two hours south to a town that usually doesn't snag more than eight passengers a week off the train.

And here are 29 people - 29 in just one day - going to a place whose most recent claim to fame is a January flood of the Skookumchuck river. That and the news that the town's municipal landfill recently became eligible for federal Superfund cleanup money.

Freeborn is soon clued in. There's gonna be a party all right. A sellout shopping trip for 29 eager hunters and gatherers who've

responded to the recent ads:

``Shoppers Special. Amtrak to Centralia.

``Leave Seattle at 10:35 a.m. Arrive Centralia at 12:40. Explore downtown shops, the Mount St. Helens Ash Glass Factory, Centralia Square's 90-dealer antique mall, then trolley to Centralia's bustling factory outlet center - 30 factory outlets.

``Arrive Seattle 6:45 p.m. All in one day!''

The jaunt, available Wednesdays and Saturdays at least for the next year, costs $29, including the $22 train fare, lunch and trolley service. There's even a ``bonus coupon package'' thrown in.

As the train heads south, past Puget Sound, pumpkin farms and a snowy Mount Rainier, the shoppers eagerly scan their 28 coupons.

Ten percent off at the Corning Revere factory store, the Mushrooms shoes factory store, the ash glass factory. Free earrings at one place, free coffee at another. Why there's even a free 15-minute facial tanning visit at the Brown 'n' Serve Tanning Center.

And the lunch coupons! There are five of 'em worth a total of $30, prompting several seniors to hatch doggie-bag plans.

``We could buy a Thermos at Corning for the soup and take the sandwiches home to freeze,'' figures one.

Sybil Brown and her friend Joyce Jones couldn't be happier. Both recently retired; Brown loves sales and Jones loves trains. ``As soon as I saw this trip had both, I knew we had it made,'' Brown says.

And she's done her homework. She knows that Centralia's factory outlet mall, the first in the Northwest when it opened two years ago, is anchored by a huge London Fog store. Store prices are promised to be 25 to 60 percent less than retail. And Brown's priced the rain hat she wants: $40 in a Seattle store, sale priced recently at $30.

``I'm expecting to spend $10 or $15 for it here, and if they can't accommodate me, I'll go back to Seattle,'' she vows.

As the train pulls into Centralia station, shoppers are met by three women, including the owner of the Brown 'n' Serve, smiling broadly and holding a brand new red-and-white ``Welcome Shoppers'' banner.

Inside the historic old station, Centralia's mayor, Missy Buzzard, is waiting. ``I just want to welcome you here. This is a really exciting day for us,'' says her honor. Dressed in a red sweatshirt, jeans and running shoes, she allows as how she'd be hanging wallpaper - her profession - if she weren't greeting these guests.

But first, Buzzard hops aboard the shiny red trolley - formerly a faded green trolley the local transit authority bought from Everett for $50,000 - for the ride through town.

The first stop, at 1:10 p.m., is the antique mall, converted three years ago from the old Elks Lodge. ``This is the antique mall,'' announces Gaylend Wilmovsky, husband of the owner of the Brown 'n' Serve and himself an officer of the Downtown Merchant's Association.

All 29 shoppers sit glued to their oak trolley seats. ``One of the places for your lunch coupons, the Antique Mall Cafe, is in here,'' Wilmovsky adds, almost as an afterthought.

Fully three quarters of the passengers rise, en masse, and get off. By the time the trolley reaches the outlet mall, only some half dozen shoppers remain. But everyone knows the vehicle will shuttle between the malls all day.

As the trolley continues, Buzzard explains the rationale for the shopper's special. It boils down to a case of numbers, and the old versus the new.

The 30-store (and more planned) outlet mall is located next to I-5's exit 82, exactly 82 miles from Seattle, the same distance from Portland. An estimated 40,000 travelers pass it daily, enough of them pulling off to bless the mall with $30 million in sales annually.

What's more, sales taxes generated by the mall have allowed the town to hire four additional police officers and an assistant fire chief.

By contrast, the picturesque town, which can't be seen from I-5, has Amtrak service one block from its main street, but almost no one gets off. So last year there were 45 vacant store fronts and a lot of muttering about how the new mall was draining the old town.

Buzzard and others traveled back East to see how other towns coexist with nearby discount malls. ``One thing that's real important is having transportation to move people around,'' she reports.

So the mall merchants and the town merchants planned together to get the trolley and let all Seattle know they could shop Centralia just by calling 1-800-525-3323 for package reservations.

George Higby of Centralia Square Marketing can hardly believe how successful they've been. Before the first trolley of shoppers (capacity: 29 each trip) even arrived, reservations were full into early December. Why just Monday, there were 96 inquiries, report both Higby and Buzzard.

``It's great,'' Buzzard enthuses. ``People come into our community and patronize the stores, gas stations and eateries, then they go home to their own schools and sewers. It couldn't be better.''

Could it? As the last trolley leaves the discount mall at 4 p.m. to make the 4:30 train, both shoppers and merchants offer post mortems.

Debbie Buzzard, manager of the Harve Benard women's wear outlet and the mayor's cousin, is thrilled because the trolley stops in front of her store and customers pop in almost as if they've been magnetized.

At the antique mall, Maxine of Maxine's Antiques offers: ``It's bringing a lot of new people into the mall, people I'm sure will come back. But about sales. Hmmmmm . . . not so good.''

Nobody has asked for the free face tan at the Brown 'n' Serve, but judging by the shopping bags, the Corning Revere store has done right well for itself.

As for Sybil Brown, she found her London Fog rain hat for $17 - more than she expected to pay, but less than the $30 Seattle sale price.

And Ruth Peizer speaks for numerous shoppers when she says, ``I personally feel if you watch the sales in Seattle you can do just as well.''

But for Peizer and most of the rest, that's not the only consideration. As antique maven Donna Perenchio observes, ``It's been a beautiful trip, and we like this little town. Everybody is more than friendly, and there's more than enough to do.''

Good thing, too. When news comes that the returning train is late, Gaylend Wilmovsky quickly urges half-a-dozen shoppers into an impromptu tour of Centralia's 100-year-old Olympic Club Saloon, its walls a patina of cigarette smoke and art nouveau stenciling.

In the back door Wilmovsky leads them, past a huddle of surprised snooker players, past the potbellied woodstove and the solid cherry bar. They gaze at the vintage stained-glass lamps illuminating the mounted deer head.

``I was surprised to see all these people come in dressed in suits and stuff,'' confesses snooker player Ron Collins. ``They brought these people down here to shop? Seems like there'd be more places to spend money in Seattle than here.''

Perhaps. But would they see anything like the Olympic Club Saloon, to say nothing of the red trolley? And would they revitalize Centralia?