Hi my lovelies! So this luxurista loves to shop…..and while I was in London, a LOT of our time was spent sprinting between Harrods, Selfridges, Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street, Sloane Square….phew! And as if that was’nt enough, we did go on a day trip to Bicester Village.
Bicester Village is essentially a designer outlet shopping destination. For those who are new to the idea, designer outlets stock discounted products of high-end luxury brands. The concept has been around for some time now, with Bicester Village in the UK leading the pack in terms of the staggeringly high number of tourists it draws.
We were staying in an apartment in Covent Garden, which is in Zone 1 London. Took a taxi to Marylebone Train Station at 9 am. Reached the station and purchased train tickets to Bicester Village (service by Chiltern Railways). The journey lasts between 45 minutes to an hour with a couple of stops in between. We reached Bicester Village station at 11 ish and a short walk from the station (through the parking lot) took us to the Village. Our first impression was that the village was not too crowded. It was a Thursday. I would definitely recommend going on weekday morning and crowds start piling on as the day progresses.
Here is a lowdown of the stores we visited and my impressions.
Went straight to Dior – there are 2 Dior outlets, one for men and the other catering to women (and children? Not sure). The husband was intent on some Dior love, so that is what we checked out first. After a complete survey of the collection – apparel, shoes, accessories, decided to check out other stores before buying.
Popped into Prada – the Prada outlet is massive. However, the deals we nowhere as impressive as those we had found on an earlier visit to Italy (leave a comment if you want to know more about it). There were a lot of bags downstairs but the saffiano ones were limited. Upstairs, the men’s collection was extensive – shoes, bags, clothes. The boy tried on shoes but didn’t find his size in the styles he liked so I would say the sizes are a hit and a miss. Both of us already have a lot of Prada in our wardrobes, so moved on to Gucci.
By this time, it was past 12 and the crowds started pouring in. The Gucci outlet is also 2 storied and massive. Downstairs there is the bags section, found nothing interesting at all. Nothing from their latest collection. Also, nothing from the Soho collection either. Went upstairs, found their shoe section, tried on a few pairs and snagged my first purchase from Bicester village!
Then headed over to Ferragamo – service was exceptionally bad. There were only a couple of customers apart from us and it seemed that the store was ill equipped to handle even such small footfalls. They had a fairly large and interesting array of shoes on discount, which I was very interested in, but waited 20 minutes without being attended to. The husband had an equally dismal experience in the men’s section. I gave up on trying shoes as there was no one to get my shoe size, but the husband liked a belt and decided to purchase. Despite carrying a tag reading GBP 70, the salesperson at the counter informed us that there has been a mistake and the belt was actually for GBP 170!! This miffed us a bit and we decided to leave it..
We were quite hungry at this point so decided to take a lunch break. The village has a small but nice array of eating options. I remember a Pret a manger, an Itsu and Le Pain Quotidien but we decided to dine at the Villandry Grand Café Restaurant as we wanted a proper sit down lunch. The restaurant was quite busy at this time and almost packed with diners but we managed a table for two with a 5 minutes wait. The food and ambience were both excellent. Ordered pizza margarita, fish and chips with pea puree and prawn linguine to share between the 2 of us. The restaurant lets you enjoy observing shoppers on the street as you dine, which is great.
Soon we were back on our feet again and it was time to explore some more shops. There is a Michael Kors outlet there but we gave it a miss because MK is ubiquitous and there were other more interesting stores such as Tory Burch not currently available in India. I loved Tory Burch!! The outlet is fairly large, well stocked with shoes, bags, jewellery and other accessories. The store was very busy at this time, full of girls trying on bags and shoes. The shoe styles were really good and I am now a fan of this brand. Left with shoes and a cute pair of earrings.
Went to Saint Laurent, no YSL WOCs or chain strap shoulder bags. A couple of clutch bags and a couple of Sac de jour bags in different offbeat colours. I had been looking for the former so nothing of real interest to me. A very small outlet.
D&G – large store full of last seasons’ and off-the-runway merchandise.
Stopped over at Ralph Lauren. RL appeared to be everyone’s favourite store at Bicester. They actually have 2 stores, a double storeyed store for men and a ground floor store for women. We stocked up on golfing essentials and casual accessories.
Returned to Dior. Dior women had only past seasons’ dated collection. There was a miss dior bag(phased out now) but it was in such scuffed up condition that I really don’t think anyone in their right mind would purchase it. Other bags were in similar condition. Husband ended up buying a nice belt at Dior men.
Burberry!! Very busy store. Very nice collection. Very good deals on leather products and apparel. Picked up a few things.
A couple of other stores checked out and soon it was time to head back. It had started raining but luckily we were carrying an umbrella. Made our way to the train station, and then home.
Would you like to see my Bicester Village haul?
xoxo
For more on Bicester Village,
https://www.bicestervillage.com
An Indian Luxurista 