Las Vegas Day 2 - Factory Outlet Shopping at Las Vegas Premium Outlet North

What is a US Holiday without shopping at the factory outlets?

After a hearty breakfast at Peppermill, we drove less than 10 minutes to our destination of the day - Las Vegas Premium Outlets - North. I have to stress the word NORTH because there are 2 Premium Outlets in Las Vegas. One in the North and the other in the South. We visited the South Premium Outlet on Day 4 and trust me, if you have time for only one, you want to go to the one in the NORTH!

Las Vegas Premium Outlet North

For those who intend to go to the Premium Outlets but are not VIP members yet, get yourself registered (Click this link to register). Once you are a VIP member, do remember to print the VIP coupon and the specific store discount before your trip. Pending on when you are going, there may be special discounts available to VIP members. You can use the VIP coupon to exchange for the VIP coupon book. It usually offers additional discounts on top of existing store discounts. If you forget to print the coupon or if you are not a VIP member, the VIP coupon book is also available for purchase for $5. Still a deal if you purchase more than $100 in participating stores since you generally get an additional 10% discount. While we were there, there was also the MasterCard Promotion and the discounts are even better than those in the VIP coupon book.

Make it a point to visit the Customer Service Center before you start shopping and that short 5 mins trip may save you more than a cup of Starbucks coffee!

There are 150 outlet stores at the Las Vegas Premium Outlet North, so do give yourself plenty of time so that you don't have to rush through the stores. For ladies, I would recommend that you give yourself at least 3 hours. Even then, you will not have time to visit all the stores. I was there for 6 hours and I did not go to all the stores.

My favourite stores at the Las Vegas Premium Outlet North are as follows:

• A|X Armani Exchange - Not many outlets have Armanic Exchange but I heard that they have opened one at the Seattle Premium Outlet. Yeah!
• Addidas
• Asics
• Armani Outlet 
• Banana Republic
• Bare Minerals
• Burberry
• Calvin Klein
• Coach
• Guess
• Hugo Boss
• Lancome
• Polo Ralph Lauren
• Juicy Couture
• The Cosmetic Company
• Timberland
• Tumi
• True Religion
• Nike
• Nine West
• Disney Store
• Salvatore Ferragamo
• Sunglass Hut
• Swarovski
• Tag Heuer
• Tommy Hilfiger

I had the most interesting time shopping at the Armani Store. It was the first time that we saw the samples. Samples are one piece clothing that were manufactured and put on mannequins at Armani's corporate headquarter for major retailers to see and feel the product and put down their orders. They are available at 70-80% off their "retail" price. Limited quantities were available and usually one size only (the mannequin size). My husband was really lucky and he bought a leather jacket (incidentally that was also the best purchase for the day) for only US$110! What a steal! It was a pity that I could not find anything suitable for me on the ladies' sample rack. I noticed that most of the samples were made in Italy! Gee!

We (or rather I) shopped for 6 hours. Although we did not buy as much as we thought we would, it was a decent trip with some really good buys. I would definitely recommend the Premium Outlet North to all shoppers!