best time to go to bicester village?

[dirtyturk]

best time to go to minimize crowds and maximize availability in normal sizes?

 

[Macallan]

During the week, excluding school holidays - no issues finding a car space, shops are quieter to browse and because there are less people, more likely to find a bargain.

However, one thing to bear in mind, you have to be lucky. You have to be at the right store, at the right time (the garment in your size, you are the store and no one else to take it before you do). I found a Pal Zileri sports jacket at 75% in my size during a very quiet weekday but found English-made RL at over 60% off during a very busy Saturday, no seemed interested in the shoes which was my luck.

 

[dirtyturk]

thank you. so no risk of getting unsold summer sale items if i were to go these days?

going during the week wont be possible... unfortunately i have a job

 

[Macallan]

Personally, I would not go at the moment, you will probably a lot of summer stock people did not want. If you can go during a weekend, then first thing Saturday morning would be best.

You can give them a call to find out what stock they have. If you are planning to go soon, then the quieter shoes, e.g. Church's, Pal Zileri, etc should be your first stop (shame they are at opposite sides of the Bicester Village).

 

[fox81]

i would have said the best time to go is just after all the city boutiques have finished their sales, and they send their stock up to the outlet stores.

 

[Holdfast]

Thursday afternoons (or Fridays) are one of the better days, as most places have received any new stock they're due that week, and had a chance to unpack them and put them out, but the weekend hordes haven't yet had an opportunity to descend like locusts upon them. Point of fact, locusts are actually tidier.

Some outlets get massive tranches of new stock irregularly, others get a gradual drip-feed on a more regular basis, you just have to get to know what they do. RL tends to be one of the ones who get big batches towards the end of their regular stores' sale season. They often get the previous years stock for the next season around then, too. The same principles apply to learning the timing of their major price cuts. RL, for example, tends to cycle through 2-3 different price cuts over any given season, so if you time it just right you can still get quite a lot of choice, plus a lower than expected price.

(PS. I don't visit Bicester Village anywhere nearly as regularly as I used to, so don't know the details of any of the shops' current routines, so there's no point in PM'ing me to ask.)