Optimize your Style

Ok so it's agreed that buying retail can get a little ridiculous at times. So then what? Well, another option is outlets. Outlets do offer a variety of designer merchandise at below retail prices. True. But the problem with outlets is that they are scarce.

Problem number one. Most people do not live close to any. If you are lucky, there may be one in your city. If you are fairly lucky, you may have one an hour or so away. And if you are habitualy unlucky, there are no outlets anywhere within a hundred mile radius of you.

Problem number two. If you are on of the lucky ones, and have accsess to an outlet mall, you may not always find what you are looking for. The best stuff goes first and fast in an outlet. And if you live an hour away, you just can't keep up on the outlet's daily turn-over of invantory. You may show up and find what you want, or you may not. It's a crap shoot.

Problem number three. Saftey. Ok lets suppose you are one of the lucky ones and have an outlet near you, and you happen to go shopping at the right time and catch exactly what you have been longing for, and you find it in your size, color, and exempt form any obvious defects. Great. But now you may have to fight to the death for it. You just might be attacked by a desperate soccer mom who drove two hours to get to the outlet, who hasn't got out of the house in weeks, who hasn't bought anything in months that didn't have a Spiderman on it, let alone bought anything for herself; and she will kill you. She will murder you right in the middle of the isle where you stand because no one but no one is gonna come between her and that pretty little D&G top that she had been dreaming about since she saw Eva Longoria wearing it in People. Are you ready for a cage fight with a member of Oprah's book club? For a shirt. Probably not.

So you see, the outlets are not always the answer. So what is? Come back, and we will discuss some more options.