I'm so excited that I finally get to share this video and blog post with you. As I mention in the video (even though I manage to use the wrong word, but hopefully you got the gist), I had origianlly wanted to vlog when I visited Bicester Village on October 2nd. I had planned everything out, and I wanted just to show you guys what it was like there, and give you an impression of what to expect for anyone going there in the future. Something like that is exactly what I would have wanted to see myself, because I am a crazy planning lady! But I did obviously forget to take my camera into consideration, which killed my vlog plans. So instead, I thought I'd make a chatty video, and just talk about what it was like. I did of course also want to show you what I picked up there, and I didn't think three things was enough for warrant it's own video. It ended up being a pretty long video though, but I just hope it will be helpful for anyone curous about the village.
If you've yet to watch the video, and haven't heard of Bicester Village before, it is a designer outlet village, located just outside of Oxford in the UK. If you're planning a visit, make sure you watch the video, and also visit the Bicester Village website. The day (or, half-day) we spent there was such a fun experience, and I have to say that it's much more luxurious there than I would have thought. It seems to be a very popular tourist destination, and there were especially many tourists there from South-East Asia and the Middle East. It seems to be the norm as well, because many of the SAs in the bigger stores could even speak Chinese, and I think Japanese as well, which I thought was just so cool. There are tons of guest sevices there to suit everyones needs, and there's even a little play area for kids there. There are several places to eat in different price ranges, but I would suggest brining a bottle of water and maybe some snacks, just so you don't have to spend ages in line for something so little.
I thought I would write a few lines about the stores that I visited, hoping that this will be helpful as well. I was very impressed with most of the stores, but a few were a bit dissapointing. I didn't visit every single store there, and I didn't really check prices most places, but here are a few thoughts:
- Anya Hindmarch This store was quite small, but it was cozy and not crowded. They had a good selection of older season items, from bags, to wallets and make-up bags. They also had a good selection of Marano clutches from different seasons. No new season items.
- Dior Looked like a typical Dior boutique, nice and white. I went in here several times to browse, but no one ever offered to help me even though it wasn't very crowded. I can't remember seing any bags, but they had scarves, shoes, childrens wear and a small selection of accessories and small leather goods (that I believe are very old, but at good discounts). I don't think I saw a single handbag, and no tribal earrings in sight either.
- Dolce & Gabbana One of the bigger boutiques, and although I didn't venture all the way to the back, they had a good selection of sunglasses, and also small leather goods and shoes. I think they had clothes as well, but I didn't look at them. Not as crowded as Gucci and Prada.
- Furla A quite small and quiet store, but bright and clean. They had tons of bags, and even more wallets.
- Gucci Another big store, and very crowded. It was almost impossible to get help here, and I gave up waiting to help to look at a cute makeup pouch. They did have a very good selection of leather goods, many different handbags, womens wear and even shoes.
- Jimmy Choo This was the biggest dissapointment for me. I went in to see if they had older colours of a pair of sandals I've wanted for a long time, and they did, but they were in terrible shape, and with a tiny discount. The front section was very clean and they had a ton of shoes and even some handbags, but in the back, where you would think you could find some good deals, and also where the older seasons were, it was just a big mess. Dirty, obviously rewened shows for £50 off? No thank you!
- Kate Spade A typical Kate Spade store, with a very good selection. Tons of bags, wallets and phone cases, a good selection of jewellery and I believe they had some shoes as well. No stationery unfortunately. This was one of the few places I interacted with the staff, and they were all very friendly and helpful.
- Juicy Couture Not the most impressive store, but they had crazy amounts of track suits if you're looking for a set (or five), and I think I remembered thinking that the discounts were pretty good. They had regular clothes as well, but the jewellery was almost non-existant.
- Marc Jacobs/Marc by Marc Jacobs Here you could find some of the classic style MBMJ bags, and the seasonal colours in particular had descent discounts. They had some accessories as well, and I think clothes too, althought it's getting a bit blurry since that was the first store I went into. Don't remember actually seing anything from the Marc Jacobs part of the brand though.
- Molton Brown I think they had more or less a full selection. Tons of soaps and lotions, and gift sets too. They didn't have the bigger sizes that you find in their regular boutiques though. Know that some products are in old packaging and may have other names. They actually had a rule that you had to buy atleast two items, which I thought was a bit wierd. Prices were good though, and I think it was £15 for one body wash and the discounts grew the more your bought.
- Prada Probably the biggest store, and quite overwhelming. Extremly crowded, but the staff was very helpful. They had some handbags, but not a big selection and I don't think I saw any classics. The selection of small leather goods was okay, but only in select styles and old seasonal colours. They had some sunglasses as well, and I think you can find some other accessories as well. The shoe department was pretty good, and they had a ton of clothes. A ton! The upper floor is menswear only, everything from small leather goods to clothing, but without the crazy amounts of people.
- Saint Laurent Clean open store. Think I saw a few handbags, but I didn't spend too much time there. They had a few pairs of Tribute sandals and Tribtoo pumps, but in seasonal colours only.
- Tory Burch Not a very big store, but pretty crowded. They had bags, clothes, shoes, accessories, more or less anything you could expect from a Tory Burch clothes. No new or classic pieces though.
- UGG Australia A nice and open store, that wasn't crowded. They had both the typical UGG shearling boots, and regular shoes, both for women, children and babies. They even had the boots in classic colours, and I'm pretty sure they were discounted (although not alot). I really regret not picking up a pair of slippers here, a steal at £60!
All in all I'm so pleased with my first visit to Bicester Village, and I highly recomend it for fashion and designer lovers out there. I will be going back, without a doubt, and I'll make sure to save some more before our next visit. If you're going from London I would take a day, because you will be browsing for a long time. I hope you found some help in this post and video, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I'm not some Bicester guru, I have only been there once, but I will do my best.
Before I leave you, I just want to sum up my top three tips for anyone going there:
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