Don’t Fall for These 3 Outlet Shopping Tricks

Dirty Secret #1: Going the Distance

Outlets are often located in the middle of nowhere, far away from cities. Originally this practice was for two reasons: (1) real estate and rental prices are more affordable out in the boonies, and (2) off-price merchandise needed to be located a geographical distance from its full-price counterpart—in other words, there’s no Prada factory store slated to open on Fifth Avenue in New York anytime soon.

However, businesses noticed a great side effect. Since customers often drove a great distance to get to the outlets, they would make a day of it, and thus feel compelled to buy things to “make the trip worth it.” What’s an outlet shopping trip without a slew of bags to show you made good use of your day?