found this about one outside paris...
Upscale brands, downscale prices
* By Suzy Menkes International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
MARNE LA VALL?E,
Here the windows of big-brand stores, from Armani and Burberry to Ralph Lauren and Versace, are designed to lure customers inside, and the nearest you get to a markdown are the words "prix La Vall?e." Because everything in this discreet outlet village is already on sale - with pricetags 30 to 50 percent lower than you would find on the upscale avenues of Paris, an hour away.
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Sales are strictly regulated in several European countries, with France not opening the mark-down season until mid-January. But the outlet, long since a way of shopping in the United States, is creeping into fashion.
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opened in 2000, half the customers are drawn from the local surroundings and the rest are tourists, often from the neighboring Disneyland Paris amusement park.
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"French prices went up with the euro and people come from Paris by word of mouth - and they all come back," says Fran?ois Poirel, La Vall?e's retail consultant. The outlet has also become a tourism destination. "And during the golden week holiday, we make sure we have small sizes for the Japanese," says A?da Bayoud, retail director, referring to the Japan's public holiday and to the classic pumps (from ?175, or $230) at the classy "Ferragamo Company Store."
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Value Retail, La Vall?e's parent company, has other high-end outlets, including its first at Bicester Village, near Oxford in England; La Roca, outside Barcelona, drawing from the Costa del Sol region, and on the German/Belgian border an hour from both Brussels and D?sseldorf.
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In Europe, the words "factory outlet" are often treated still like a bad smell. But at La Vall?e, whose nearest rivals are situated around the French city of Troyes, the brand names don't look like shrinking violets. Here is a cute store for Christian Lacroix, where you might find a tweed jacket with painterly splashes for ?275, a 40 percent discount.
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"Armani Outlet" is carved on the elegant mansion the Italian designer has dedicated to his various brands, including Emporio and jeans, often at half price. You won't find fashion-forward pieces, but a classic greige pants suit with an eyelet belt sells for ?482 (from the original ?960).
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At Versace, the store is rocking to Madonna singing "Hollywood," while life-size images decorate the store and goods include studded high-heeled boots, gaudy Medusa-patterned umbrellas and even a fancy dog collar. The sales person proudly lists celebrity customers from the French reality TV show "Star Academy."
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Why should brands want to sell in an outlet? It is part of efficient modern management. Surplus or old stock that used to be distributed haphazardly, with a negative effect on the brand image, is now offered in a controlled environment, preferably where brand adjacencies prove that everybody is doing it. (One brand expert says, off the record, that the bigger the name the easier it is to get a big store at a peppercorn rent, in order to lure other brands.)
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Certain brands like Vuitton are unlikely to have an outlet in this modern form. But most brands have to deal with surplus in a progressive way."
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So who is present at La Vall?e? The long roster includes Dunhill (with ties at 40 percent off); Dupont (elegant pens at minus 50 percent); Celine ("exceptional offer" bags at ?2,120); Diesel (cool jeans); Anne Fontaine (signature white blouses); Kenzo (a bird-embroidered shearling coat costs ?293, down from ?650); Molton Brown (beauty products), or Reebok, selling sneakers from ?33.
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Burberry, Poirel says, is the best selling store, with "the strength of the brand in French markets unbelievable." On offer is the Burberry London line, strong on the iconic check and with such witty extras as skateboards. Nearby Ralph Lauren has upscale gentleman's club wooden fittings, but classic shirt prices enable the customer to buy two for one.
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. And more shoppers than ever seem to want a shopping experience with a few fewer zeros.
The leftovers that are there aren't worth looking at, and they are still priced higher than what you can get at a clearance sale at a dept. store or in a discount store. This is an NYC experience, btw (and all people who said they hate it are coincidentally from NYC).
