Happy shopper
If you want plentiful designer bargains but can’t bear to shop the sales I implore you to take a trip to Bicester Village in Oxfordshire. I was treated to an impromptu visit last week and boy, was it a-mazing. In addition to Ralph Lauren, Dior, Celine, Loro Piana, Tods and Mulberry, there’s a new Anya Hindmarch store which literally had my heart pogo-ing (it doesn’t take much does it?). I bought this jacket in navy wool crepe reduced from £345 to £172 (although I was also given a free £50 voucher). Now if you bought this in the sale it would be all squished up against a random mix of crap and would probably have a button dangling off it and foundation on the collar. Well here’s the beauty of Bicester Village. Each shop is exactly like a regular branch of Mulberry/Tods/Anya Hindmarch. The stock is beautifully displayed, the staff are attentive without breathing down your neck and your goodies are lovingly swathed in tissue paper and packed in a beribboned bag, not bundled into a plastic carrier with SALE emblazoned across the front. The best bit (apart from the Carluccio’s restaurant) is it’s sale time all year round, so if you fancy some select splurging in a civilised environment, get yourself to Marylebone station, it’s a mere hour on the train.
