Shop till we drop!

I find it funny that it has to take me on my 3rd trip to Scotland to realise that there's actually a factory outlet here, barely 40 mins drive from Edinburgh, in the South of Livingstone.Of course I have heard many times that shopping in Livingstone is great but I always have the impression that the malls in Livingstone is just like any other malls in Edinburgh perhaps slightly bigger. Boy, was I wrong. Never had I imagine that Livingstone is actually a shopping haven, a congregation of all the outlets of great brands like Gap, Next,Topshop etc just like the outlet malls in the US!

Our trip to Livingstone was kinda impromptu. We have planned to go to the car boot sale nearby St.James Square that Saturday morning only to realise that the sale is only available on Sunday. Talk about bad planning :(. At that instance, we decided to head West to Livingstone instead. It was just a quick check on the internet, and the next thing we knew we're on the bus on our way there. We took the Lothian bus (No.1) to Gorgie Road(pronounced Gor-Gee instead of Jor-Ji) and from there the FirstLine bus no 76 heading towards Bathgate/Livingstone. We were kinda lost initially (due to last minute planning) and we have to ask a few passers-by to confirm on the correct bus we need to take! Btw, a return ticket for Lothian bus costs 2.50 while a single ticket from Gorgie Road to Livingstone costs 4.30.

The journey there was really scenic! The best part was that we got the front row upper deck seat on the double decker bus, which offered a great 180 degress view of the countryside along the way to Livingstone!

CT and I, posing at the double decker bus. We're on the front row of the bus!
The mall is called Almondvale Shopping Center and it sits right beside the Livingstone Designer Outlet. Almondvale is a huge mall with at least 200 outlets, and now they have an extension that will be ready by winter 2008. Brandnames at the outlets includes the likes of GAP, Matalan,TK Maxx and etc.

The interior of the Almondvale Shopping Center

So, how cheap are the stuffs here? To me, it is very cheap, at least when it is on sale!!!Well, the best part was that at that time, the outlets were having a Clearance Sale to get rid of the summer season stocks. Summer clothings was definitely what we were looking for!!!Woo hoo!!!

At last count, I got 3 pairs of GAP pants at the price of 3.99 pounds each, can you believe it???CT on the other hand, bought a cute leather handbag from NeXT for 10 pounds and a pair of pure leather shoes for less than 20 pounds! What a bargain!Oh, my only complain is that I could not buy more as I need to ensure that I do not exceed my baggage limit when I get home. The limit is a mere 20 kg, and my luggage bag itself already weighs a whopping 8 kg!! waaaaaaaa.... :'(

All in all, the trip was indeed a satisfying retail therapy for us!! Where's next? Glasgow ? :D