I've written before about how good Milan is for shopping. The well- heeled can splash their cash at La Rinascente, Italy's answer to Harrods or Jenners where after riding on endless escalators and trawling though rail after rail of expensive clothing, shoppers can relax with refreshments on a terrace that looks out on the roof of the cathedral. The even better-heeled, meanwhile, drive their Ferraris around the Quadrilatero d'Oro and barely inflict damage on their platinum credit cards in the designer flagship stores.
For the likes of me, however, these places are more like art exhibitions than places where you actually buy things. The likes of me have two choices: shop in the high street shops of Via Torino or get out of town. To the outlet centres.
Not having a single Ferrari between us, Mr. A, two of our friends and I made our escape in Mr. A's Fiat Punto. There are several outlet centres within driving distance of Milan, but we chose the one at Serravalle, which is run by McArthur Glen. The shops range from Reebok to Prada, and we were open to finding anything.
Our most successful finds were in the sports shops. We all got trainers in the Reebok shop, and, thanks to my personal shopping advisor (Mr. A)'s eagle eyes, I got a pair that were reduced from 90 euros to 30. My other great bargain was a ski jacket and trousers, (which I will be needing for our skiing holiday in 2 weeks!) reduced from about 250 euros to 60. Mr. A got a nice scarf and gloves in Timberland and my friend ran out of Versace in shock when they told her that a fluffy handbag, reduced by 50%, was a bargain at 1500 euros. The outlet stores normally have about 30% the normal price, but because it's still sale time in Italy, we were getting up to 50% off the outlet price, so some of the reductions were incredible.
Bargains aside, my other two favourite finds were this hot beverage solution for the travelling Italian who misses the coffee from the Bel Paese:
and the Lindt shop, where high quality chocolate is sold as pic'n'mix on a scale that Woolworths could only dream of even before it went bust. At 3.55 euros for 100g, it wasn't exactly cheap, but who cares when you've just saved 240 euros on the rest of your shopping?
For the likes of me, however, these places are more like art exhibitions than places where you actually buy things. The likes of me have two choices: shop in the high street shops of Via Torino or get out of town. To the outlet centres.
Not having a single Ferrari between us, Mr. A, two of our friends and I made our escape in Mr. A's Fiat Punto. There are several outlet centres within driving distance of Milan, but we chose the one at Serravalle, which is run by McArthur Glen. The shops range from Reebok to Prada, and we were open to finding anything.
Our most successful finds were in the sports shops. We all got trainers in the Reebok shop, and, thanks to my personal shopping advisor (Mr. A)'s eagle eyes, I got a pair that were reduced from 90 euros to 30. My other great bargain was a ski jacket and trousers, (which I will be needing for our skiing holiday in 2 weeks!) reduced from about 250 euros to 60. Mr. A got a nice scarf and gloves in Timberland and my friend ran out of Versace in shock when they told her that a fluffy handbag, reduced by 50%, was a bargain at 1500 euros. The outlet stores normally have about 30% the normal price, but because it's still sale time in Italy, we were getting up to 50% off the outlet price, so some of the reductions were incredible.
Bargains aside, my other two favourite finds were this hot beverage solution for the travelling Italian who misses the coffee from the Bel Paese:
and the Lindt shop, where high quality chocolate is sold as pic'n'mix on a scale that Woolworths could only dream of even before it went bust. At 3.55 euros for 100g, it wasn't exactly cheap, but who cares when you've just saved 240 euros on the rest of your shopping?
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento