Outlet Shopping in Orlando

In the US, Outlet Shopping Malls are everywhere. They have many offers, all brands sell discounted items. I describe two outlet malls in this blog: Part 1 Orlando.

What exactly is Outlet Shopping?

If you have never seen it in the US, you do most likely not know it from Germany. Huge outlet shopping malls are everywhere. They offer all kinds of products and items way cheaper than in the stores. These outlet malls are in every big city, usually a bit outside. They do not only sell one brand but severals in many different stores. A major asset is that the so called “average” brands are sold as well, not only high-end fashion brands and designers. If you read this blog you know that, when it comes to driving routes, I sometimes point out outlet malls on the road. We always made some great deals here and did quite some shopping, everyway much cheaper than in Germany in cheaper than in the regular stores.

Outlet Shopping in Orlando

I describe two very big outlet malls in this blog: Orlando and Las Vegas. Orlando has two malls: Orlando Premium Outlet Vineland Avenue and Orlando Premium Outlet International Drive.

We like these mall, they are a good opportunity to buy everyday clothes, clothes we still need at home on a daily basis (as opposed to e.g. cheesy tourist T-Shirts). Some things we always buy quite successfully are sporting clothes and running shoes (sometimes Adidas, sometimes Nike or Reebok). Also Jeans from some of the famous Jeans brands and T-Shirts were always cheap. Sometimes we also found more fancy clothes for work in an office or chic leather shoes.

Both Malls in Orlando are huge. It’s impossible to go to all the stores. You should focus on the brands and stores you like in particular. That’s what we always did: some American brands but sometimes even German brands like Adidas are cheaper. The discount policy varies in every store. Some stores are much cheaper than at home others not at all. All the stores with great discounts are full of people; basically just follow the crowd to find them.

Shopping in an Outlet Mall

A pair of Levi’s Jeans is usually 120 Euro here in Germany. Sometimes you get a discount a pay 80 to 100 €. In an outlet mall, we found them for 50 dollars. Nike running shoes are usually 100 € and more here, in the US outlet we paid 40 – 50 dollar. We also found a premium leather jacket for 55 dollars. You can see in all these examples how much money you can save.

One thing that is not so nice: these outlet malls are very busy. It’s not a relaxing way to shop. I almost had to fight for my Nike running shoes.

The good thing about these malls is: you find many American brands here. Some of them are not available in Germany like Gap, Banana Republic, Guess, Victoria’s Secret, Sean John (Puff Daddy’s fashion). There are also stores from the big fashion designers (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Boss, Armani). Apart from that they usually have perfumeries and toy stores (Disney, Toys’r’us).

When Should I Go?

The basic rule is: the longer the day, the fuller the mall. In the evening, these malls are always crowded. From that point of view, going in the morning would be the right choice. But there are also some reasons to go in the evening: in winter, Florida is dark rather early; you can do something else in daylight (beach, ocean, hiking, etc.). Anything you need daylight for. You can easily do these malls after sunset. That’s what we did. The outlet malls are open a long time, in Orlando even till 11 pm.

I think it’s enough to do one outlet mall. The best option is to decide based on the brands and stores that are important to you. Their websites have lists of all the stores (link at the bottom). You don’t find all the brands in every outlet mall, for example Levi’s isn’t everywhere, whereas Gap can be found in literally every shopping mall. Both Orlando Malls are so huge, I think they have enough for everyone. If you are rather open when it comes to that, choose based on what’s closer to your hotel or your driving route.
One thing we could not find was an electronics store (something like Mediamarkt or Saturn in Germany).

To us, this was always a way to spend one or two evenings per holiday like this. You buy things that make sense, no tourist crap and you have done all your shopping this one time and have enough time for everything else Florida has to offer.

I list the two big shopping malls in Orlando. But there are many more.

See also Outlet Shopping in Las Vegas.