Today we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of shopping at outlet stores in Milan and the surrounding area. We will find out how to get there best and what you should pay special attention to. In order for you to be able to effectively spend time shopping and to have complete information about all the nuances of such a trip in advance, this article will be presented to your attention.
What are outlets? Their varieties
To immediately explain to those who have not yet encountered this, outlet is a special kind of shopping center that specializes in selling well-known brands with significant discounts.
In stores and factories of manufacturers over time, unsold goods accumulate, which is regularly delivered to outlet centers. They sell it there at huge discounts (up to 70%), so that any buyer has a chance to purchase clothes of a famous couturier, paying for it very inexpensively.
Depending on what kind of products the stores sell, they are divided into two types: outlet-factory or outlet-mel. The first sells deposits of goods accumulated in manufacturers' factories, and the second sells unsold goods from boutiques or branded stores.
Milan: Serravalle Outlet
Famous throughout Europe, the Serravalle shopping center is located 108 km from Milan, on the direction to Genoa, in the village of the same name.
This shopping area spreads over 32,000 m². It is a peculiar town with a central square decorated with a fountain, and numerous streets paving from it, paving with paving stones. In the pretty houses, made in the Ligurian style and decorated with ornamental plants, the stores of the most famous brands are located.
In total there are more than 180, not counting all kinds of cafes, restaurants and bars, playgrounds and parking for 3000 cars.
Outlet Serravale Scrivia is considered the largest in Europe. The project developers immediately took into account the fact that in Milan there is a huge number of world brands of lingerie and clothes, that is, the largest outlet is most reasonable to build in this area.
Outlet Features
As a rule, outlets in Milan and its suburbs present collections of past seasons with the already mentioned discount, which ranges from 30 to 70%. And during summer and winter sales, a fifty-percent sale discount is added to the existing outlet discount. So luxury things, as you can see, can be purchased here at very attractive prices!
True, it is also possible to relate to the features of the outlet that it is impossible to predict which assortment will be presented to you. The same drawbacks include serious limitations in the choice of sizes. In Milan, the advantage is given to large sizes. So, in most cases only 40 or 42 will remain on your share.
As you can see, your shopping will most likely resemble a hunt, where elementary luck will play a significant role. But in this you will find a kind of excitement that you can’t get, just stunningly strolling through the boutiques.
The spirit of democracy inherent in outlets
Not only the excitement and the opportunity to purchase super goods attract visitors to Serravalle Outlet or other Milan stores of this type. They are liked by many and the spirit of democracy, which can not be found in boutiques.
Many of us simply do not dare to go, for example, to the Brioni boutique, just to try on a costume. The mere sight of the important sellers evaluating you from head to toe can scare away and deprive the desire of an ordinary buyer to measure clothes. But in outlets these costumes can be felt and tried on, but at least sniffed - no one will ask you a squint! But what a choice of brands: Dolce Gabbana, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Versachi and others, offering shoes, elite perfumes, accessories, and cosmetics. Eyes run up!
More about Outlet Features
There is no special day for updating the assortment in Serravalle Outlet stores or others like him. In each of them, goods are imported little by little, about once every three days. In some - more often, in some - less. The assortment, by the way, depends not only on the brand, but also on the demand for its products. For example, tourists from Russia invariably sweep away Hugo Boss brand clothes, which entails the appearance of a new product in the store, though without discounts, because the so-called “fresh receipts” outlets can sell without discounts even during the sales period.
The maximum quantity of goods and, accordingly, their best choice is achieved at the beginning of the sales season, and least of all it remains for the third week after the opening of this season.
Serravalle Outlet: How to get there is not very expensive?
For those arriving at the Milan Genoa train outlet, get off at Arquata Scrivia stop. But we want to immediately warn that these trains run quite rarely, and you can get stuck at the station for a long time.
The bus from Milan to the outlet runs 2 times a day at 10.00 and 11.00 with Foro Bonaparte. And in the opposite direction there are three flights: at 17.00, 19.00 and at 20.00. For adults, such a trip will cost 25 euros, and for children over four years of age - 10 euros. But all those traveling with you on the bus are future visitors to outlets, which means that you involuntarily fall into the influx, because several buses come here at the same time.
A taxi ride is acceptable. She usually makes 170 euros one way. But if you are going to gather four together, then such expenses will pay off.
There are also companies providing rendering services to the outlet. Their cost, of course, is more expensive than a bus ride, but also cheaper than a taxi.
Benefits of traveling to the outlet by car
It’s best to go by car. You should only remember before going to the Serravalle Outlet: Via della Moda, 1, 15069 Serravalle Scrivia AL.
The cost of renting a car directly depends on the number of days paid. The longer the rental period, the cheaper it costs in one day. Hiring a car for this period will cost you 60 euros. But if you ride in a company of 4-5 people, then the cost of the trip will be almost like that of a bus. Moreover, under such conditions you can spend the whole day in the outlet.
This shopping center can be reached by car via the A7 Milan Genoa motorway. Do not miss the Serravalle Scrivia exit! In addition, it is worth recalling that you need to take a navigator with you, as road junctions around Milan are quite complicated.
Outlet Reviews
As shopping lovers who visited outlets in Milan and its suburbs say, you will not see prices such as those presented in these stores in Moscow! And why bother asking, for example, at the Serravalle outlet, if you can also watch such a scene next to it: young parents, having pulled their child out of the stroller, are trying to push into it all the purchases they made for the day? ..
But around Milan outlets, there are still ongoing discussions. Some say that these stores are just a dump of what they did not buy even during the sales period, which means that nothing worthy of attention can be there. In addition, they say, many products there have defects obtained during the period of hanging and fitting in the boutique.
But their opponents confirm again and again that a more exciting pastime, as a result of which you can get an interesting thing, and even at a low price, can not be found. Which of them is right, you decide!
So is it worth shopping in the outlet?
In the end, we can only say that a trip to the Serravalle outlet or any Milan outlet will not leave you indifferent. With careful and patient viewing of goods, you will surely find yourself the owner of something special. These stores provide excellent opportunities for practical and fashionable people. And not in vain they are becoming more and more popular every year.