Foxtown Outlets - Switzerland

Ok, so I was recently told that I might be making my readers a bit jealous...well, if you've been feeling that way (and especially, if you're a shopper like me), you might want to skip out on this entry. It's all about the outlets. Yeah, we had a team meeting today from 10am to 1pm, but it was the same stuff. No one showed up on time. Folks came and went on their own schedules. No clear communication. Yeah, yeah. Any other day I might care. Today, I was focused. Focused on getting to the outlets in Switzerland. Rita and I left Bocconi around 1pm so we could catch the 2pm bus to Switzerland. The outlet bus is provided through a travel group called Zani Viaggi and costs a mere 15 euros roundtrip. The bus left from central Milan, not too far from the Duomo, so we made sure we got there early in case it filled up. No worries, the bus was full, but not packed.
The trip required that we bring our passports, and as American citizens, that was all we needed. Poor Kathleen said she has never been to the outlets in Switzerland b/c her passport is not accepted. Times like this make you appreciate being an American citizen. Anyway, the bus was a double decker, and was nice and air conditioned. The bus made one additional stop to pick up passengers, and the total ride was barely an hour. Nice. Even though the Bocconi girls claimed they rarely ask for your passport, when we got to the Swiss border, an agent boarded the bus and requested to see everyones passports. He didn't stamp them though :-(
When that was done we kept going and the outlets were about 5-10 minutes across the border. Very close.
The name of the outlet is Foxtown, and they have outlet stores for most of the well known designer brands including Gucci, Dior, Versace, Prada, Calvin Klein, YSL, Ferragamo, Valentino, Burberry, and of course Armani. They claim there are 160 stores total. The only stores they didn't have that I wish they did were Chanel, Chloe, Bottega Veneta, and Hermes. Anyway, the tour bus got us there around 3pm and we had to be back on board to depart by 7pm, so with less than 4 hours to shop, Rita and I split up and agreed to meet at 6:30.
My first stop was Dior (what a surprise). As I walked in the door, I looked straight, and my dream saddle bag was staring me right in the face. They had several designs, but the one I had my eye on was a white medium sized bag with a floral pattern. I went over to check out the price. It was good, but not impressive. Then I looked up and there was a sign that read "50% off". Better. I thought about it for a second, then, since it was my first stop, I decided I would keep meditating on it, and return later. Ha! That lasted about 2 minutes. I walked next door to Gucci, and I could not get my mind off that bag. Then it occurred to me: the price was in Swiss francs, not euros. Huge difference! That suddenly made the bag 25% cheaper, on what was already a great price. Since this has been my dream bag for quite some time now, there was no way I could turn this opportunity down. So I marched right out of Gucci and went back to Dior to get my bag.
Now, paying for the bag was an ordeal. Even though I was using my debit card, they give you the option of having the purchase go through in swiss francs or dollars. The first time they tried my card, the reader spit it out, and would not accept it. So I tried again. Same thing. At this point, I was starting to think I had come all the way out to Switzerland only to have debit card issues and not be able to shop how I wanted (I could have withdrawn money, but then there's a limit on how much you can withdraw, and I'd most likely be stuck at the end of the day with unused swiss francs). Finally, the sales lady keyed my card number in manually and it went through. Whew. Now I could really shop.
After Dior, I stopped by Gucci, Valentino, YSL, and Burberry (I believe in that order). They all had pretty good prices - usually 30-50% off outlet prices, which were already discounted. Burberry was the only exception. Their discounts were light. And I didn't think their selection was all that great (the store wasn't that big compared to some of the others). It took me about an hour and a half to get through the top two floors of the mall, which is where most of the more well-known designer stores were. And believe it or not, I made all my purchases within the first hour there. In addition to the Dior bag, I bought a denim jacket from Miss Sixty, a belt from Esprit, and a bottle of Vera Wang Princess lotion from this store called Free Shop (only b/c it was cheaper than if I bought it in the states). The sales lady in Free Shop was a sweetheart, and showed me through the entire store. Before I left she gave me a small bottle of the Princess perfume as well (I love that scent!). At Miss Sixty, my card suddenly wouldn't work again. I ran it through the card machine, and it took forever to process. When it finally did, it rejected my card. So the sales lady tried again. And again, it rejected. Rather than have her key it in (she seemed kinda lazy and there was a nice little line developing behind me), I just paid in euros. Thankfully, she gave me change in euros. I also paid in euros at Esprit b/c they had a sign that said they accepted euros but they would give you change in Swiss francs. I wanted the Swiss francs to add to my coin collection. I made some other purchases, but those were gifts, so I will not divulge.
The rest of my time at the outlets was spent going in practically every store of interest, from Missoni, and Miu Miu, to Etro, and Ferragamo. I saw many things that I liked, but didn't love. Some stores had really good prices (50% and 70% markdowns on top of outlet prices), while others were barely marked down at all (ie. Fendi, Prada, Versace). At Ferragamo, I tried on a pair of shoes that were to die for (not literally, but y'all know what I mean)! They were a gray/tan color, snakeskin, pumps with about a 4" heel (as if I'm not tall enough). They were beautiful. And they fit. And they were on clearance. Unfortunately, clearance meant about $585 marked down from $2500. Hmmm...I do love shoes. And that is a nice markdown. But I still couldn't justify that one. Prada, was also interesting. I walked in the first time and there were about 20 young, Asian girls crowded around the front of the store (where the handbags were) checking out the wallets, and accessories. I could barely get within two feet of the area, and was not in the mood to be pushy, so I decided to leave and return later. When I returned, I checked out the bags, which were not discounted at all from outlet prices. The smaller accessories were in the $70+ range, which may be a good price for Prada, but still baffled me b/c the quality was so poor, and most of the items were tiny. They did not look well made at all. Needless to say, I left empty handed.
At 6:30, I met up with Rita back at the entrance, and surprisingly, she only had one bag. After almost four hours of shopping, all she had to show for it was a mug. She said she did not see anything that she really loved. Amazing. Although I can understand a little b/c I didn't spend anywhere near my budget for the day for similar reasons. But I definitely saw lots of things that I liked. And the things I loved, I bought. This just means, my shopping days are not over :-)
We boarded the bus around 6:45, and I think just about everyone was knocked out on the bus ride back to Milan. Shopping is exhausting. When we got to Milan, the bus driver was making random stops on the way back to the travel agency. He stopped at Cadorna, which is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment, so we hopped off and walked home.
For dinner, we were both too tired to cook. Plus it was late. So we stopped at the restaurant on the corner where we live, and got food. I ordered a spinach calzone, which turned out to be the best calzone I've had here yet. The spinach and cheese were very fresh, the dough was soft and chewy, and it had just the right amount of filling.
Rita and I spend the rest of the evening trying to plan a trip to Florence for tomorrow, only to find out that all of the main attractions are sold out. We decided instead that we would go the weekend of the 26th, which is my last weekend in Milan. But then, when we went to make the reservations, they added about three different fees (an online booking fee, a pre-booking fee, an exhibition fee) which effectively quadrupled the price for EACH museum. I'm not joking. And I thought Wharton was the king of "nickel and dime you" - ha! Wharton has nothing on these museums. Rita is planning to call in the morning to see if we can avoid the ridiculous fees. As an alternative, we looked into going to the town of Saronno, or Bergamo, but we didn't solidify anything so who knows what tomorrow will bring. Later! Ciao!