"Vacation" Week

For the past several years, I took this final week of August leading into Labor Day weekend as a vacation week. It was always a very slow time at my job, and since the Mrs. and I don't take typical summer vacations (coastal Maine or Cape Cod, etc.), it was nice to use some vacation time to just do nothing for a week.

So this year, even though I'm not working, I decided to act like I was on vacation this week anyway. This week is known to be a dead zone for anything regarding employment, and I'm still looking casually; I decided to give myself a bit of a break, and get back to it in earnest next Tuesday.

That's why yesterday found us driving up to Nashua, NH to visit the recently opened Merrimack Premium Outlets, brought to us by the same folks that gave us our Wrentham outlets, and plenty of others across the country. This new center is only about 60% the size of Wrentham, and I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but I was curious and wanted to have a look after hearing about it from the person who cuts our hair. And even though I hated every moment of the dozen-plus years I spent working in retail, I've always been interested in the business side of it, how these shopping centers are developed and deployed and marketed, what sort of stores they feature, etc.

The one outlet store at Merrimack that I have not seen at any other outlet center is Bloomingdale's. Unfortunately this one was a complete disappointment. Other than a small selection of Joseph Abboud sportcoats, there wasn't one thing in the men's section that I found interesting. The merchandise was very ordinary, and maybe that works for some people, but there was no sense of discovering something good, no thrill of the hunt that I used to hope for when outlet-store shopping.

There is a Saks Off 5th store at Wrentham, and I have made occasional purchases there. There is one at Merrimack also, and the offerings were better. Saks has invested some effort in its private-label men's merchandise over the past several years, and they now offer corresponding house labels in their outlet stores. The products aren't as good as the regular store private-label stuff, but they're all right. Moreover, Off 5th devotes a lot more space to men's things, allowing for a wider range of merchandise (shoes, bags) and nicer presentations.

And for you real luxe nuts, I found a small selection of sportswear from the likes of Brioni and Brunello Cucinelli. If a pair of fatigue-green casual cotton pants that were originally $620 and were marked down to $240 (plus another 25% off that, according to the signage) is your idea of a bargain, then get thee to Saks Off 5th. (Not for me, thanks.) There was also a good selection of Brioni neckties at a final price of $75 each (originally priced at $200), which is a very good price for such a high grade of fine, hand-made Italian neckwear.

(Note: with Labor Day weekend on the horizon, the discounts at outlet stores are likely to get larger, if you happen to be in the mood to shop.)

The Ralph Lauren store left me wondering, as it always does. Nowadays the bulk of what's sold in outlet stores for mainstream brands like Polo and J. Crew is made expressly for the outlets. But what happens to the leftover stock of the merchandise that's offered each season in the regular Ralph Lauren stores? It used to end up in the outlet stores, but doesn't seem to anymore. And what about the less common stuff, like Black Label and RRL? Even on sale that stuff is pretty overpriced, so there must be some of it left over—where does it go? Maybe Woodbury Common, the super-fancy outlet mall north of New York?

So, I bought nothing yesterday. The Mrs. bought some new underwear, a typical outlet-mall purchase for her.