[Sister Havana]

I am a big fan of outlet malls. I've gotten quite a few really good deals there. Many of the places have last season's styles, but some have current styles...it all depends. Some places also make lines of clothing expressly for the outlet stores. Of course, some places have better deals than others. For example, the L'eggs Hanes Bali Playtex, which has good deals on some stuff, sells other things (like Just My Size bras etc.) for the same price you can get them at Target. I've seen Levi's jeans on sale at Kohl's for the same price or less than they are at the outlet. On the other hand, I've consistently gotten great deals at the J.C. Penney outlet, Eddie Bauer outlet, the VF Factory Outlet (sells Lee, Wrangler, Vanity Fair and some other brands), and Nordstrom Rack.

My big score today: I went to the Chicago Premium Outlets, which is a fairly new outlet center in Aurora (west of Chicago). I decided to go into the Kate Spade outlet store, just to see what was there. I snagged a really cute red tote bag with a dog on it (the Darling Dog Jaidyn I think it's called), originally priced at $175, for $59 including tax!

I posted about my Vera Bradley buys in that thread. (A small cosmetic bag - with some body lotion thrown in - for $7 with an extra 10% off at the Crabtree & Evelyn outlet, for instance!)