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Outlet shopping at London Bicester Village
If you are planning a shopping trip to London, do set aside some time to go to Bicester Village (pronounced as "bice-ster village") www.bicestervillage.com. This outlet mall with over 100 shops by luxury UK brands such as Burberry, Paul Smith, Alfred Dunhill, Karen Miller, and other high-end brands (HUGO BOSS, TODS, DIOR, Jimmy Choo, Celine, etc) where prices are reduced by up to 60%! If you don't mind getting items that are from the previous season, you can find many great deals here!
As I was on a business trip that crossed over a weekend in mid-July, I couldn't resist checking out the place on a Saturday. From Knightsbridge tube station near to my hotel, I took the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus and change to the Bakerloo line to Marylebone station. Upon reaching, i simply just follow the sign to the Chiltern Railways station that is linked to the tube station and buy my train ticket. That's the great thing about being in UK. Everything is in English!

When purchasing the tickets, do check with the person behind the ticket counter if you can purchase a ticket to Bicester Village as the fare would include the shuttle bus service to Bicester Village from Bicester North train station. My ticket only include the train ride to and from Bicester North so I ended up having to pay GBP2 each way for the shuttle bus. If you take the train after 11am on a Saturday, you will be able to get the Cheap Day Return ticket that cost around GBP22 instead of paying the full fare of GBP40 for Standard Day Return. Another great way to stretch that pound! Anyway, the journey takes about 1 hour and upon reaching Bicester North station, cross the overhead bridge to the other side and wait for the shuttle bus to Bicester Village. The bus stop is just outside the station. For more details, check out http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/ for the timetable and fares.

Upon reaching, i went straight to the Management Office (next to Tag Heuer) to get the VIP booklet that my UK colleague has arranged for me. With this VIP booklet, you get additional discounts at participating stores. I would suggest you to go to the Management's Office and just try your luck into getting one. No harm trying!

As I reached the place close to 4pm, I have essentially only 3 hours to cover the entire outlet village before the shops close at 7pm. Armed with the map of the place, I examined the map to strategise where I should target. My strategy is to go for the European brands and ignore the American brands. Reason was simple. It is way cheaper to get the American brands in USA than in London. As I have a USA trip coming up in Oct, I figured I can afford to give that a miss. So in three hours, i dashed from one end of the village to another covering shops such as Burberry, Celine, Paul Smith, Alfred Dunhill, Tods, Jimmy Choo, Bally and Ferragamo.

My damages for the day? A Tods bag that was marked down to GBP399, a Burberry wallet for GBP28, a Bally wallet for GBP60, a Dunhill wallet for GBP50, a Celine shoulder bag for my sister-in-law plus a number of T-shirts from Burberry and Dunhill. Scary, right? In a short span of 3 hours, I have spent around S$2000! Still, it feels great knowing that these items will most probably cost me twice as much back home. Yours truly El Cheapo Glam! Hahahaha.

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posted by blossom179 at 12:36 AM |


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