How far will you drive to shop?

[hrh_disney_queen]

I outlet malls, but the closest good one is near Sarasota, FL..about 2-1/2 hours away. And actually, there is another one across I95 that is pretty nice, too. I can't justify driving that distance just to visit some of my favorite outlet stores. In the past I have driven over an hour to get to an outlet (not as nice either), but this is half way to WDW for us! (Yes, every distance is in terms of "how far to WDW!" )

When I lived in Greenville, SC and we were childless, we would drive to Atlanta to shop and take in the big city. That was about 2-1/2 hours. Now I don't think I would do it. I would be tempted to just keep on driving to WDW!

I know some people make vacations out of shopping, but how far would you go?

 

[eliza61]

Not far anymore. If I in the area of an outlet, I'll go or if some one is hosting a bus trip to an outlet I may ride.
I'm a pretty good shopper and I find that with stores competing for business between sales and coupons I do pretty good in my local neighborhood. I live in Southern NJ, we have 2 major outlets near me. one in AC and one in PA. They have "designer" outlets. Some of the problems I have with them.

• Prices aren't that much discounted IMO. When we were in Orlando this past fall we went to the Prime outlet. Stuff was marked down 10-20% but I can get that at my mall.
• Selection isn't the greatest. I'm a size 12. In the designer stores not that much in larger sizes.

Coach stores have some good buys on their previous seasons stuff.

All in all, I do just as good if not better locally.

 

[Rora]

It depends..

We live about 1 1/2 hours away from the Orlando Outlets and sometimes my mom and I will decide to just go down and make a day trip out of it. My dad and my DFiance think we're crazy, but it's fun!!

We don't do this frequently and most of the time I just go to my local mall.

 

[Disney Doll]

In general, about an hour or so is my limit for what I would consider "regular" shopping.

We have been know to drive to Freeport ME or Conway NH (about 4-5 hours), but that's more of a weekend getaway that includes sightseeing and shopping. Both are big outlet areas in New England.

 

[lspst8]

For regular shopping, I won't drive farther that about 10 minutes from either my house or work. Both work and home are in very suburban areas, so I everything is very close. Usually once a year, I will drive an hour to go to IKEA. My mom and I will usually drive about 2 hours to go to the closest Prime Outlets once a year. We will probably go on Veteran's Day this year because we both have it off, and it really is a fun day before all the Christmas shopping crowds descend on the outlet malls.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I will go 1/2 hour to shop, any more than that and it stops being fun for me.

 

[Shmily1]

HRH, I'm a little closer south than you but still in GA and we drive to St. Augustine (2 1/2 hrs) to the outlets there to do a lot of shopping. We also go to Daytona (3 hrs) shopping. The best outlet malls within about 3 hours around are at St Augustine!

For most of the usual shopping stuff, we go to your town of Savannah (1 1/4-1 1/2 hrs-depending on which mall!) I think if I lived in Savannah, I would be hitting up Hilton Head outlest quite often though!

 

[GeorgeG]

Only as far as I have to.

 

[lillygator]

Only as far as I have to.

 

[Micca]

Only as far as I have to.

I'm with George on this. My max is usually about 10-15 minutes. I think guys look at shopping a bit differently.

 

[golfgal]

In our old town if you wanted to go shopping at a real mall it was 1 1/2-2 hours away so we did that whenever we needed to do a big shopping trip. If I were making a day of shopping at a 'special' mall I wouldn't hesitate to drive a couple hours and spend an entire day there. For every day shopping, I tend to go to the closest malls but given one of those malls is the Mall of America, it isn't that much of a sacrifice .

There is a pretty good outlet about an hour from here and I get up there once or twice/year.

 

[AshleyW]

I drive about 1/2 an hour whenever I want to go to the mall, the one in Iowa City is better than the one where I live. Every couple months I drive about an hour to the outlet mall around here. About twice a year I drive 2.5 hours to Des Moines to go to their mall. Once a year I drive 5 hours to go to the Mall of America, but DFi and I usually make a weekend out of that.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

HRH, I'm a little closer south than you but still in GA and we drive to St. Augustine (2 1/2 hrs) to the outlets there to do a lot of shopping. We also go to Daytona (3 hrs) shopping. The best outlet malls within about 3 hours around are at St Augustine!

For most of the usual shopping stuff, we go to your town of Savannah (1 1/4-1 1/2 hrs-depending on which mall!) I think if I lived in Savannah, I would be hitting up Hilton Head outlest quite often though!

Ack, I can't think straight! I MEANT St. Augustine, not Sarasota!

I have been to Hilton Head Tangers Outlets several times, but they are small malls and not many really good stores. In fact, they are moving all the stores from Tanger I into Tanger II and they are going to tear #1 down and rebuild!

I may take a day and drive down to St. Augustine. It would be weird not to continue on to WDW, though! Every time we go to WDW, I want to stop, but I want to get to WDW faster. I have stopped briefly on my way home.

When I lived in Greenville, SC, I used to drive over an hour to go to the Outlet store for the Disney Catalog in Jonesville, SC. The warehouse for the catalog is there and they have a tiny little store, but that was the way to get my Disney fix a couple of times a year. It is way out in the middle of nowhere, and it is so cool to see Walt's signature on the building coming up over the last hill.

 

[monkey68]

I do go to the outlets that are about 2 hours away once or twice a year, for big shopping. But regular shopping, I don't actually drive... I take the subway into my desired area of Manhattan (which area depends on my mood).

 

[aprilgail2]

10 minutes or so.

 

[Shmily1]

Ack, I can't think straight! I MEANT St. Augustine, not Sarasota!

I have been to Hilton Head Tangers Outlets several times, but they are small malls and not many really good stores. In fact, they are moving all the stores from Tanger I into Tanger II and they are going to tear #1 down and rebuild!

I may take a day and drive down to St. Augustine. It would be weird not to continue on to WDW, though! Every time we go to WDW, I want to stop, but I want to get to WDW faster. I have stopped briefly on my way home.

When I lived in Greenville, SC, I used to drive over an hour to go to the Outlet store for the Disney Catalog in Jonesville, SC. The warehouse for the catalog is there and they have a tiny little store, but that was the way to get my Disney fix a couple of times a year. It is way out in the middle of nowhere, and it is so cool to see Walt's signature on the building coming up over the last hill.

Don't forget the Disney store is in the outlet mall on the left on the way down I-95.

You just gave me a really good reason to head on over to SC the next time DH wants to go. I'd love to see that warehouse and the little store!