Seattle Outlets

“Ah!!! The Outlets!!!”, many of us might say. Things are a little different in the USA from many other countries but this style of shopping has been with us for some time. Here’s a “haul” from the Prada Outlet in Florence . . . .

First there are the Shopping Malls which have spread everywhere. Is this really a video advertising Portland Mall?

In Seattle, there are outlet shops of various types selling stuff which has failed to catch on in the major stores. Nordstrom even has its own outlet called “The Rack” which sells at down to a third of the original price; lower when the stock doesn’t move.

Here’s a good “haul” from “The rack”

Admittedly, the original Nordstrom prices can be somewhat confronting but the main store in Seattle and others has a pianist playing at the bottom of the escalators and sometimes even its own choir at Christmas!!!

For the largest range of bargains, you have to go outside the main city to ‘The Outlets’. Our nearest is the ‘Seattle Premium Outlets at Tulalip’. This centre is regularly invaded by Canadians and there is even a direct bus from Vancouver hotels and the airport.

The number of stores here is enormous as can be seen from the following list. I only quote the URL because the list is so long.

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/store_listing.asp?id=71

So what do you do when faced with so many discount stores?

The first thing is to bone up on your arithmetic. One of the most amusing discount signs I have seen is . . .

EVERYTHING IN STORE REDUCED 70%  THEN TAKE OFF A FURTHER 30%

I hope that most people will realise that something starting off at $100 will be reduced initially to $30 and the further reduction of 30% will reduce the price by $9 giving a sales price of $21. It’s NOT free – only a total discount of 79%.

As you enter each store, you are surrounded by signs advertising myriads of discounts. In some stores, if you message the store while you are actually in it, you will receive a 10% discount on the bill you are about to pay. On Tuesdays, seniors receive an additional 10%. If you join the club connected to the store, you get a further 20%. The “club” will also email discounts up to 40% and sometime details of amazing “flash sales”. The offers are never ending!!! I can remember one of my first purchases in Calvin Klein, made of the softest material I had ever felt, being marked down with various discounts – because it was one of my first buys – until the price was four dollars. Unbelievable!!

For the male buyer, things are fairly simple. You enter the store and head for the clearance racks at the back. They usually say “80% off the lowest advertised price” or “70% off” so you might end up paying less than one tenth the of the original outlet price or less. In the Burberry store I found a reduction to one ninth of the outlet price even though the item was in the window. In Hilfiger some time ago, they even hid their most incredible reductions – some around $5 or so – in the changing room corridor which was very confusing.

Here you can view somebody exhibiting their “haul” to all and sundry . . .

The disquieting side of all this is that  it looks as though the Outlets represent a significant sector of the retail clothes trade. Not only are Amani, Burbery and Tommy Bahama represented in this sector but almost all our favourites are there. Only distance separates the retail shops from their outlets and, as mentioned above, Nordstrom has already changed that aspect. From the the European, British and Australian perspective, visits to the Outlets can actually pay for the air fare to the USA.

At a recent International Dentists Conference in Seattle, the spouses were not to be found at the Space Needle. They were in the Outlets. One German dentist’s wife had bought two enormous white fluffy bathrobes. When I asked why she couldn’t buy them in Germany, she answered, “These have the Ralph Lauren emblem on them. They are a steal here – probably a fifth of their cost in Germany.”

But it is only by visiting the Outlets once every few weeks and buying only the items you need and only when they are priced at about 90% discount that you can accumulate a decent “haul”. The stock changes all the time and the item you dearly desire will eventually appear at incredible discount. Luckily, I live not too far from the Seattle Premium Outlets in Tulalip so I can actually do this. Now I need a larger closet!!!