Discounts at outlet stores can be spotty. It’s not at all unusual to make a day trip with great expectations only to be disappointed by lackluster discounts and undesirable selection. Over the years we’ve noticed that designer outlets favor saving their big markdowns for Christmas and July 4th.

While in the neighborhood, we couldn’t help from snooping around Woodbury Common and found that many of our favorite stores are adding extra discounts to lure customers. Don’t worry if your plans don’t include driving an hour north to go shopping. We opt for the beach on a holiday summer weekend too but most stores are willing to ship merchandise. Below is a list of some of the outlets with the most favorable assortments and sales. Extensive picture examples  can be found right this way.

Bottega Veneta
The Bottega outlet has a lot of bags, which is not always the case. Styles from last year’s collections are an additional 30% off. The store has a large variety of Roma tote bags that come to about $1660 from $3750 and a very light pink Maxi Veneta is $1279 from $3000. The clothing selection offers even steeper discounts that range up to 70% off of the original retail prices. An embellished denim dress with raw edges, from last season, is just $500 and a brightly embroidered skirt is $235 from $5600.
(845) 928-4563

Celine
Many times, the bags found at the Celine outlet are sold for full retail. This week is quite a treat because select handbags are discounted an extra 30% to 50% off a prior markdown. There is a nice assortment of bags from the spring 2015 collection including a red and widget Cabas Phantom striped tote is reduced to $700 from $1450 and a Curved Clutch that’s about $1000 from $1900. The most highly reduced clothing comes to about 70% off. A long white wool vest is about $1200 from $4750.
(845) 928-4000

Chloe
It’s hard not to resist pulling massive amounts of clothing when discounts top 85% off. That’s the current discount of Chloe’s prior summer collection. We found a dramatic navy coat reduced to $670 from $4450, a double embroidered white and pink skirt is $180 from $1200 and a black and white version is $195 from $1300. We would suggest steering clear of the bags. It seems as if the prices have been reduced and then they were marked back up to retail. There is a small discount offer but you would likely do better shopping at Intermix.
(845) 928-6260

Gucci
The selection at the Gucci outlet was quite atrocious. It’s not too tough to call it, ‘the worst of Gucci.’ Maybe that’s not so bad. After all, it is an outlet. The best deals are found on two racks in the middle of the store that are reduced an extra 70% off. We found a denim sleeveless dress with a lizard collar for $360, a white blazer for $240 and a long black gown with rhinestone rope around the neck for $750. We are almost sure we saw that last dress hanging around Bergdorfs at some point.
(845) 928-8034

Prada
The Prada outlet (at Woodbury and Florence) holds a special place in our heart. Does one ever really recover from scoring off the runway samples for $75. Discounts like that haven’t been reported about for years but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good finds. Again, we suggest you focus your attention on the clothing. We found a mini leather Miu Miu skirt for $215, a black Prada shift dress with red edging for $285 and an embellished Prada flapper dress also for $285. Classic cotton skirts can be found for as little as $115 and we even spotted a powder blue ski jacket for just $255. Sizes seem to be either very big (44) or small (36). We suggest you take your time, you might just get lucky and when you do– you will never forget it.
(845) 928-3706

Tom Ford
The Tom Ford story is a bit sad. The boutique is almost always empty and there are only one or two pieces of clothing that gain momentum any each season. The remainders seem to languish through multiple markdowns. The outlet is clear proof and is brimming with fashion castoffs. Right now, you can find discounts up to 90% off. The selection is small but there are some nice pieces. A white wool dress with black lacing is $329 from $3290 and a simple wool dress with an open back is $250 from $2500. The shoes and bags were redued an extra 20% to 50% off but there wasn’t much that jumped out at us when the collections were new. I makes it that much harder to get excited when the collection has aged.
(845) 684-3100

Bottega Veneta