When is an Outlet Store not an Outlet?
Today, I had one of those really nice days where my husband takes me shopping and actually fakes interest in the act of shopping. I wanted to check out the Peter Alexander outlet, so we headed off to DFO Spencer St, where a lovely sales assistant claimed that a new DFO is being built in Bundoora.
The first question that came to mind is ‘My god is there really that much excess stock in Melbourne?’
A DFO in Bundoora will make that our fourth DFO.The thing I really noticed when I was at DFO today is that the term outlet seems to be very loosely applied.
Examples:
In Giallo I came across the cutest pair of Chanel-esque quilted toe black ballet flats. They only had my size in ivory, and husband suggested I ask the sales assistant to ring around. I told him it was unlikely since they don’t have any outlet stores. Well, one fabulous sales assistant later, I was picking up my brand new shoes from the Melbourne Central store, still at the ‘outlet’ price.
The stock and prices in Matchbox, Cotton On Body and Hairhouse Warehouse was identical to the normal stores.
Another store that can’t really be classed as an outlet is Charcoal. I love Charcoal, it’s great for trend based pieces, but they don’t even have any stores that aren’t in DFO, and everything starts at RRP.
When we only had DFO Moorabbin in Melbourne, I do think the centre was more of a true outlet centre. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of discounted stock in some stores, but I did notice that those stores that only have one store in the DFO chain seemed to represent the best value and be a truer ‘outlet’. Witchery was probably the exception to this, having stores at both Essendon and Spencer St, but since I’m not a huge Witchery fan, its hard for me to judge the level of bargains on offer.
So the question I’m asking here is, is it even worth going to DFO to snag a bargain? I’ve always been of the opinion that when its sale time (so December/January and June/July) you are better off hitting the normal store sales anyway, but with the steadily increasing amount of DFOs and the sneaking in of ‘standard’ stores, I don’t think DFO is the bastion for bargain hunters it was when we only had one in Melbourne.
I think the trick with DFO is not to assume you’re getting a discount on the recommended retail price just because it’s a DFO, and as I learnt today, it never hurts to ask to store to check if another store still has your size.
And yes, I did score the most adorable swing jacket from Jeans West for $29.95 so therefore it was still worth the trip!
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