Outlets are the bright spot going into otherwise dim retail season

on an overcast English morning,two women from middle england are out shopping.They duck first into the Gucci boutique,fingering discounted handbags and rifling through racks of last season's fashion lineup.Dolce&Gabbana is next,folllowed by Armani.The outlet boutiques among 136 clustered along a cobblestone outdoor shopping center called Bicester village about an hour's drive from London-are mobbed with bargain-seekers even at an early hour.You get value for money here,who pauses to chat only briefly before her friend hustles her off to Valentino.My husband is in businesss.so it's hard for us just now,but i don't mind paying for quality.Luxury outlet malls are the one bright spot of brisk trade going into the holiday shopping season.In recent weeks,retailers have reported small but still rather anemic signs of recovery.Yet sales numbers show that consumers have been flocking to discount outlets all year long,depsite the recession. Value retail.the london based compay that owns the largest string of luxury outlets in Europe,including Bicester village,has seen sales rise 20 percents to just over one billion euro in the first theree quarter of 2008,that compares with predictions of flat or at most a two percents increase in spending across the retail sector over the holiday shoppping period.value retail,whose major investor also owns part of the sprawling woodbury common outlet mall outside of new york city,has seen its growth this year double the average over the past 14 yeats ,when sale increased at a rate of about 10 percents annually,according to scott malkin,valure retail chairman.it's human nature to indulge,i think we've gone away from i need more for the sake of more and more,to people being more discerning in what they purchase.that sentiment has benefited luxury outlets in a year when full price luxury sales have been forecast to fall as much as 10 percents ,rather than view outlet shopping as cannibalizing from their high sterrt or madison avenue sales,luxury retailers in fact have welcomed the oppotunity to sell excess merchandise in a slow time ,while reaching a separate segment of customers to whom they wouldn't normally be able to sell.We're service to the brand.the ceo of value retail management .the brands have a lot more stock they want to dispose of ,elegantly,we're a platform for them that is quality,with a customer that is aspirational.