outlet-store-hopping in Sta Rosa

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While my car was undergoing it's nth preventive maintenance in the dealer's shop, I took a short tricycle ride to the closest shopping centre in the area: Paseo de Sta Rosa. The quickest way to reach the place (if by private vehicle) is through the South Luzon Expressway's Eton / Greenfields exit (km 42). Then follow the road to Tagaytay City, passing by several residential villages. Paseo de Sta Rosa is right after the hospital.

Paseo de Sta Rosa is one of my favourite haunts for clothes and shoes because (1) it's only 20 minutes from my house on a slow drive; (2) it has some of my favourite brands; (3) I don't have to compete too much for parking space; and (4) the shops I frequent are ALWAYS offering items at huge discounts because they're outlet stores.

One particular store that I always visit when I go there is Debenhams. I heard that there was a Blue Cross sale in the Makati store a few weeks ago but I wasn't able to go there. No matter. The store in Sta Rosa should have good selections too; but since it's an outlet store, the sizes are certainly limited. I would be lucky to find something I like in my size; I also need a lot of patience to rummage through the clothes in the discount rack.

Then there's the Marks & Spencer store near Debenhams. I'd normally check out the new fragrances and the food section for gift ideas. Sometimes, I'd drop by only to see if my favourite bubbly chocolate bars are available. More often, I'd go there to buy Christmas presents for family. The clothes are also always offered at a discount; so far though, I haven't been able to shop beyond the food and the perfumery sections.

Last March (I think), I was pleasantly surprised to find Payless Shoes right across two high-end shoe brands. It's quite different from the shoe stores I'm accustomed to. In the shoe sections of the bigger department stores, one size of shoes are displayed on the rack; I have to ask the attendant to get the right size for me. In contrast, Payless displays shoes by size. All I have to do is go to the corridor with my feet's size and then try on whatever pair of shoes I fancy. The cooler thing is that the shoes are relatively more affordable than what I'd expect!

Amid all the foreign brands, I'm happy to note that there's a depot of Bench nestled in one of the corners. It's truly one of the global Pinoy brands... and the women's clothing line, HerBench, is one of my favourites too. Many of the brand's jeans styles fit me well and it carries versatile blouses that fit the smart casual category (which means I could wear them to work). I think that the Bench outlet in Paseo is quite new when I took a peek. It's small and it's clustered in one shop with Charles and Keith, Celio, La Senza, and other brands I couldn't remember. When I go back to Paseo de Sta Rosa, I'll have a closer look at this particular shop.

There are some more stores that piqued my interest when I walked by. I'll have a look on my next outlet store trip. I wasn't able to explore these stores as much as the others because I had to go back to the repair shop to retrieve my car.

I'm now looking forward to my next outlet-store-shopping trip.

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