Outlet shopping: deal or no deal?

[disneysteve]

We periodically shop at outlet centers, both in our area and when we are traveling. Sometimes we get some pretty decent deals but overall I think the whole concept is much more hype than substance.

I'm old enough to remember when an outlet store truly was an outlet. There was usually only one location, often located near or even at the company headquarters or factory. They would sell overstock, returns, seconds, irregulars, last seasons' merchandise, etc. These were usually bare bones stores, no fancy displays, minimal merchandising - often just big bins with simple signage.

Over time, the companies caught on to the popularity of the outlet concept and they started opening outlet stores across the country promoting the idea that you could get the same items as in regular stores but at a greatly reduced price. The problem is that generally isn't true. There isn't anywhere near enough overstock, discontinued, or out of season stuff to stock all of these stores, so they started manufacturing merchandise strictly for the outlet stores. It is stuff that might be similar to their regular line but typically lesser quality which allows them to sell it for a lower price.

They also really push the "discount" aspect. Everything in these stores is always "on sale". For example, in Reading, PA, at the Vanity Fair outlet, everything in the store is always half-price. Of course, it isn't really half-price. They just made it look that way. The $10 shirt is and always has been $10. It was never sold for $20 despite what the price tag says. They want you to think you're saving 50% when you aren't actually saving anything. Another example happened today when we were in the Van Heusen outlet here in NJ. Almost everything in the store was "on sale" for 70% off - except it wasn't really. I looked at a pair of pants marked $56. I know darn well that they have never, ever sold those pants for $56. They're usually in the $25-30 range so 70% off made them under $17 which is a good deal, but not the 70% off they are pretending it is.

I know I'm in the minority but I wish they would just put the actual price on the label and then base the sale prices on that.

What do the rest of you think about the explosion of outlet stores?

[pflyers85]

I agree with you, DS. I live in the Lehigh Valley like 10 minutes away from Sands in Bethlehem where the casino is and they have outlet shops. I don't find any more deals there than I would at a department store in a mall. Most of the stores at the mall have the sale circular up front and you don't need to remember to bring a coupon. Some just give everyone the coupon automatically or if you simply ask if there is a coupon. In my experience the deepest discounts tend to be on the clearance racks at a department store. As you correctly point out, outlet stores use these 50-70% discounts but they are at the suggested retail price that the item never once sold for.

Personally I shop for what I need and check around for the best possible price. I know lots of people that think they are saving money shopping at outlets but many times they are buying crap they will never/rarely wear or use. They are just get sucked in chasing these so called "deals" that they think they are saving money but in the end they are buying more stuff that they don't need and spending more.

[FLA]

I am sick of paying a "discounted" price on goods made solely for the outlet that are nowhere near as nice as the real thing. You kind of have to know which chains do this and which have a "real" outlet of marked down items that sold in the stores.

The Coach outlet is a good example, whatever outlet mall I am at, it is packed with women buying lesser quality purses and leave thinking they scored. In reality, a salesperson told me the only non-made for outlet bags they have, are in the way back, there is often only one of a style, they are not displayed like the ones up front, sometimes they are just in a bin. If you look closely, the tags between the two types are totally different. I love purses, but inexpensive $30 ones I find on deep clearance somewhere. I found a really nice Coach bag in one of those messy piles, with a tag showing how it had been reduced from $300, to $200, etc. It was down to $100, the whole store was 50% off that day, as well. $50 and it's really nice. I came home and could find it on the net discounted but not that much, I'm pretty sure I didn't get scammed. But if you don't look up the outlet ahead of time to see if it really is one and the store people are vague, you're probably not in a true outlet.

I liked the old days when an outlet was an outlet. Now they feel like an expensive waste of time. Oh, one good one is left- Talbot's Outlet. It's easier if you live near one, because the prices change like the wind. It's a true outlet, I cannot begin to figure out what I saved on work clothes living near one of them. I often got $200 dresses for I swear, $8! It was a mess, you had to be in the right mind to dig through all the ugly stuff but the deals were incredible at the biggest sales. I never paid more then $20 for anything, including a gorgeous trench coat. If you are short, it is petite nirvana. If you have one- GO, so worth it! Unfortunately, the one by my house was turned into a one step down from real Talbot's stuff, they don't call it an outlet, the clothes are made for this store and they are not as nice and they really aren't priced for the obvious lesser quality. The real outlet is now an hour away. I haven't been, bummer.

I hate when DD wants to go outlet shopping, she's a squeeze a dollar til it cries person, but she does get caught up in trends sometimes. Like Vera Bradley, which she talked me into going to at the biggest outlet mall I have ever seen, on our "way" home from my bother's (complete opposite direction from home). There were so many people and it took over a half an hour to find a spot to park which by then was nowhere near Vera Bradley. We get in there, it's very organized and it's collections of a bunch of patterns that are discontinued. But they did have clearance in the back with random stuff. The stuff DD picked out, the prices were good, but when I looked them up online, she'd get a better deal there. It was her money, her choice. But another example where even if you've found a true outlet, the prices may not be lower than the online store.

[HappySaver]

Coach is a great example of a brand that has diluted its reputation with cheap outlet products.

I generally hate outlet shopping and don't find it worthwhile, but we do have some outlets near my parents' house and do visit just a few select stores sometimes because that's all there is (no mall nearby).

My husband likes Brooks Brothers for work clothes. The Brooks Brothers outlet is now mostly their 346 outlet line of clothing and we won't buy any of it. Still expensive and lesser quality than the real stuff. But every now and then you can find real store pieces mixed in. You just have to search for it, visit often, and get lucky that they'll have your size. I snagged some great sweaters two years ago. Last year, nothing for me, but a great shirt for my husband. So it goes.

The Crate and Barrel outlet is a still a real outlet and I've found some great buys there.

Eddie Bauer outlet - junk. I don't bother. JCrew and Banana Republic, mostly junk, but now and then can find something worthwhile.

[FLA]

second-best outlet, Cuddldown in NH. A run down building on the side of a winding road, no other outlets in sight. Their linens are amazing but pricey. The outlet is a scavenger hunt, they have 90% off, but you have to dig and search to get a full set sometimes. There might be one in Maine, now, too. I have duvet covers from there that I still use that I bought in the 90s, they get better with age! And they make their own down comforters, pricey, less so at the outlet, and 10x better than any comforter I've ever had.

Our Eddie Bauer in the mall went out of business. A few weeks later they opened an "outlet" in a strip mall, it's been there at least ten years. Ex bought his jeans there so then my son wanted to as well. But it was all, except for one rack in back, full retail prices. WTH, did they just slap the word outlet on the sign to bring people in? It's still like that. IDK how that one stays in business.

A new one for me was Norm Thompson in Maine. Never heard of it. But had tons of comfortable shoes, like Dansko, cheap. The clothes seemed geared towards older people. But they had great travel accessories and purses, all quality names at great prices.

OK, shutting up about shopping on a savings board!

[disneysteve]

The one outlet store where I do shop consistently is Van Heusen. I buy pretty much all of my dress shirts there. I have not been able to detect any difference in quality between the ones sold at the outlet and the ones sold in regular stores.

On a day to day basis, the outlet price is better, though sometimes a sale at a regular store will match it. However, the outlet has a rewards program and you earn points on every purchase. You get 10% back so a $5 coupon when you spend $50. Since shirts run $20 each, just 3 shirts gets me $5 off my next purchase. They also do various bonuses, double points, birthday promo, etc. All of that makes it worth going to the outlet instead of buying at a regular store. I don't shop often but every 2-3 years I'll go there and spend a couple hundred dollars.

[bjl584]

There is an "outlet" shopping center close to where I live, but there really aren't a lot of deals there. If you take the time to really look you can find a good deal here and there, but it's mostly the same merchandise and prices that you'd pay at regular stores. It's more of a gimmick than anything else.

[ua_guy]

Computerized inventory planning and just-in-time manufacturing has taken all the fun out of factory outlet stores.

Most of what's there just seems to be the remnants of what didn't sell last season. Unpopular styles, colors, fringe sizing, etc.

I haven't seen good pricing at factory outlet stores in a long time--manufacturers probably get a better tax writeoff if they simply donate/give away what doesn't sell at normal pricing, or send it overseas. There's always "on sale" signage but the prices seem pretty normal/retail.

[LizfromtheBronx]

It can really go either way. I took a trip to the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park, NY a few weeks ago. The stores we went to were Reebok, Saks Off Fifth, Converse, Lane Bryant and Torrid. I'm pretty familiar with the prices of all of the items I was looking at.

Reebok - prices no different than the regular store. Clearance prices were good, and the store was doing 40% everything which made it a good deal.

Saks Off Fifth - this worked the same way as a TJ Maxx, etc. I got a few pairs of shoes that I have bought before (liked them so much I wore them out) and I paid a great deal less here than I did when I bought them in a regular store or online.

Converse - not any cheaper

Lane Bryant - not any cheaper

Torrid - regular stuff not any cheaper, clearance slightly discounted

I guess it all depend son what you're looking for and what the extra sale is that day. I happened to do really well the day I went, but don't think it was because I was at the outlets.

[disneysteve]

I happened to do really well the day I went, but don't think it was because I was at the outlets.

Exactly. You can get a good deal at the outlets, but not necessarily any better than you'd get during a sale at your local mall.

[disneysteve]

Most of what's there just seems to be the remnants of what didn't sell last season. Unpopular styles, colors, fringe sizing, etc.

I don't think this is true. I think all or almost all of what you find at the outlet was manufactured to be sold at the outlet. Either that, or it is just their regular product line that you'll find anywhere else, and usually at the same price as everywhere else. The outlet stores have just become one more store to buy the stuff but not necessarily at a discount.

One thing that is legit in my experience is the coupon books they put out. We've gotten them at Tanger and at Premium and you can save some good money using those coupons. They are usually free if you have AAA or AARP or if you sign up for their email club.

[snafu]

I've always presumed places like Premium Outlet Mall and similar were just a chosen name that featured a collection of 'brand named' stores really no different than Cross Iron Mill, Glendale Gallaria or any selected Mall name. Does staff warranty the merchandise is from an 'A' store?

Most genuine discount merchandise tends to be part of a functioning factory or at least very nearby. The merchandise is often flawed, tiny problems that don't really affect the use. Sometimes there are problems with the packaging or distribution that causes the item to be discounted.

In my experience, production problem goods are mostly sold in huge lots to 'jobbers' who have their own avenues of distribution. The really high end merchandise is designed in Europe, [Italy, France etc] and actually produced in China, Vietnam and now Cambodia. There is a city called Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong that you'd have to see to believe. I think I read 60,000 factories in that 'special economic zone.'

Another stream is India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. Better quality leather products are usually from Brazil.

Electronics are produced primarily in Taiwan with technical support from Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. Lots of 'copy' electronic work seems to be transitioning from China to Vietnam.

[moneybags]

I live near 2 big outlet malls. You definitely have to know what you're buying. As someone else pointed out, most of the stuff is lesser quality at not that great of a deal. I buy a lot of my clothes at The Loft. I only buy when they are having a sale. I have been to The Loft outlet, and it is a completely different line of clothes and the pricing is no bargain. I don't buy anything from that outlet. We went to the outlet mall on 4th of July - there were some good sales going on, and we got some good deals on clothes for the kids. Several stores had 50% off everything and then an additional 20% off on top of that.