Good day friends ! .
Decided to share on our shopping experience to THE MALL, FLORENCE, ITALY back in May 2016 , we had lots of fun so hope our experience helps your planning !
We didn't manage to find a lot of blog information on this place but I swear this outlet shopping IS THE BEST !! Some say this is the best luxury outlet mall in the world , and I think its pretty hard to beat hahaha :)
For your information: this is the official THE MALL WEBSITE: https://www.themall.it/en/outlet-italy/homepage.html
Open from 10AM to 7PM
We visited in MAY 2016.
We stayed at near Firenze Santa Maria Novella station, Hotel Aurora (which was literally outside the station) and it was a wonderful base for us to explore Florence !
To start off the day, we had breakfast before leaving to take the direct bus THE MALL !
There were several ways to get to THE MALL, and we chose to take the direct shuttle bus !
You can find more information here on options to get there: https://www.themall.it/en/outlet-italy/visit-the-mall.html
So we walked over to the waiting area, which was at : BUSITALIA/SITA bus station – Via Santa Caterina da Siena 17, Florence (near the central railway station).
On Google Maps: it showed as : "Busitalia SITA Nord Autostazione" or you could just google "Via Santa Caterina da Siena 17, Florence" . Anyway it was just a short walk from the Main Santa Maria Novella Station (about 5 mins)
According to the main website, they have daily services and lots of different timings .
SOME TIPS !!!
1- The earliest bus is 8.50AM (please re-check on the website) , but by 8.30AM the Queue for the first bus is already very long ! We arrived at 8.20AM to queue up for the bus and by 8.40AM , the first bus is already FULL !!! and people at the back had to wait for the NEXT BUS OMG... (about 20-30min frequency) , so glad we woke up early and got on the first bus :)
2- When you see the bus queue , one of you stand in the queue while the other one go buy the bus ticket at the office opposite the queue (at the office ticket) , our RETURN tickets were 13 Euro each.
3- BRING YOUR PASSPORT , FLIGHT TICKETS .. so you can do a tax refund immediately at their tax office on the site of THE MALL ! You can even get cash back refund if you like..
4- Eat breakfast before you go. Bring water, some snacks .. there is nothing much to eat there -.- & go to toilet before you get on the bus .. its about 30-40mins drive through the Tuscan countryside to get there
5- BRING MONEY HAHAHAHA & MAKE SURE YOUR CREDIT CARDS WORKS
6- Prepare to spend 5 to 6 hours here if you want to go to every shop. Plan your route (see which shops you wanna go) by visiting the website first ! To make it more effective haha..
That's all ! Shall let the pictures tell the rest :)
Waiting for the bus !
Mostly Asians swarming to get onto the bus !
The people who had to wait for the next bus despite coming earlier than 8.50AM !
Drive through the countryside
After around 40mins bus ride , we arrived ! Its not like a MALL , MALL. its kind of spread apart in small buildings with different brands , and there are really A LOT OF brands ! and its only open from 10AM TO 7PM !!! So early bird catches the worm haha..
Once we got off the bus , everyone ran and queue for Prada ! We were thinking huh what ?!! But we went to queue anyway lol. Perks of the first bus ; you get to go in first and chop the stuff ! (because all the shops aren't open yet) ..
Finally we got in PRADA , and we got a ticket number so whatever you want to buy, just say the item and give your ticket number, its to tabulate the costs at the cashier..
We're so glad we went PRADA first cos its SO CROWDED and the cashier queue was SO LONG AND SLOW omg .. but the things are discounted !!! Cant really remember the exact price but the cardholder is S$100+ and the small prada wallet is S$300+ ! Cos I'm not super fan of Prada bags so didn't buy.. but their bags are about 30% or more cheaper for sure..
Next stop, YSL
So MANY BEAUTIFUL BAGS (but it wasnt much cheaper to me, didnt buy anything)
Next stop, GUCCI
GUCCI is quite discounted ! I asked my mom whether she wanted this @ $400+ , she didn't lol
I bought this bag for my brother at S$300+ !
and helped my friend to get this for my friend @ $500~
So we walked around some more ~
Next stop, FENDI
Certain items are discounted, didn't get anything here though.. nice clothes !
The other side of THE MALL,
Moschino had a nice collection ! but didn't get anything too..
Next stop, BOTTEGA !!!
I think the favourite store of all is BOTTEGA , the collection was pretty new (at the time) and lots of colours !! Loved everything I saw !! and its discounted !!!!
I got this bag for my mom (shoulder/sling all leather weaving) for about S$1400+ !!! Surely can't get this price in SG!!
Next stop, MONCLER
Moncler had such a large collection ! But Hun stopped me from buying cos he said "won't use" -.-
The OTHER SIDE of THE MALL ! This compound is pretty big so wear comfy shoes !
Mention: Balenciaga , quite disappointing (NO CITY).. no pics sorry
And there's still many shops that I didn't take photos with ....
These are the people queuing up the the TAX REFUND (Global Blu office) where you present all your receipts , passport, boarding passes and you can get instant cash refund (means more shopping!! haha). Very convenient !!!! Remember to factor in time if you want to do the tax refund here. Because there is only one or two counter and the queue is very long.
For us , we didn't do the tax refund here as we were leaving by train to Switzerland. Only those leaving by flying out of Italy or EU can do here (thats what they told us). So we did at the city instead. All in all , we spent about 6 hours here and it was really fruitful !!! Enjoyed shopping a lot !! && there's still way more shops that those we pictured.. but these are the main ones we stayed longer..
Remember to check out their main website : https://www.themall.it/en/outlet-italy/homepage.html for the shop listing & most updated information such as opening hours , bus shuttle timings before you go !
Just wanted to share our experience with our readers ! Hope this helps ! XX
