Mashantucket — If business at the Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods matches the traffic at Thursday’s pre-opening job fair, the mall-at-the-casino concept will have been a good bet.

Hundreds of people began filing into the fair shortly before 2 p.m., and within a half-hour more than 500 had crossed the threshold of The Fox Tower’s Premier Ballroom, according to a Foxwoods spokeswoman. By the time it was over, at 8 p.m., the number of candidates had climbed to more than 2,500.

“We didn’t set a target,” said Ashley Polo, the spokeswoman. “We’re just really excited that we can bring this many jobs to the area.”

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, which will own and operate the mall on land it’s leasing from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, Foxwoods’ owner, hosted the event, which continued until 8 p.m. A three-hour period earlier in the day had been reserved for Mashantucket tribal members, who will have hiring preference.

David DelVecchio, the mall’s general manager, said 60 mall tenants had set up tables in the ballroom, representing three-quarters of the stores that are expected to be in place when the mall opens May 21.

“There are 900 jobs to fill, a lot of them part-time, but some full-time, too,” he said. “We need store managers, sales associates and everything in between.”

Tanger itself was looking to hire 16 part-timers to staff the mall’s customer-service kiosks.

DelVecchio, previously the assistant general manager at Tanger’s outlet mall in Westbrook, said he expected that the vast majority of the jobs would be filled as a result of Thursday’s fair and through the mall’s website, where all jobs are listed, and social media.

“So if you missed the job fair, you still have an opportunity,” he said.

Job-seeker Tesha Delcastillo of Norwich, who described herself as a stay-at-home mom, said she was “just looking around,” preferably for a full-time job that she could juggle with caring for her son. She said she had worked at Foxwoods before.

“Everybody loves the casino,” she said. “They’re going to do real well (with the mall).”

Ciera Senuta, a 16-year-old Norwich Free Academy junior, was looking for her first job.

“I’m a people person,” she said, adding that she’d seen a lot of people from school at the fair.

William van Ingen, a Westerly resident who said he’s worked a series of temporary jobs to help finance his education at Kean University in New Jersey, filled out several applications. He, too, said he believes the mall will thrive, particularly since its “outlet” prices “should be more reasonable.”

While Tanger has yet to release a complete list of mall tenants, some of them were publicly revealed for the first time at the job fair, including Columbia, an apparel outlet; Kate Spade, fashion accessories; Pinkberry, frozen yogurt; and Man Cave, a “unique” gift store selling DVDs, toys, books and novelties.

In addition to national brands, the lineup also includes some local stores, such as K&M All-Star Sports and Kay Jewelers, both of which have outlets at Crystal Mall in Waterford.

“What we’ve seen so far is unbelievable,” Sam Romanella, K&M’s owner, said of the Tanger mall. “It’s bringing so much excitement. The Mashantuckets are expanding, and they’re going to be bringing in more business for everybody. It’s (Foxwoods) not just about gambling anymore.”

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck