Apart from being in love with Florence, one of the highlights of the trip was definitely my visit to the Prada & Miu Miu outlet – Space. From getting there to shopping like a mad woman, I am pretty sure it was one of the most exciting days of my life! Seriously, it was a candy shop…a candy shop full of Prada bags. So in case any of you are interested in doing a little shopping of your own at Space in Montevarchi, here are some tips to help you along the way.
Space is not actually in Florence, it’s located in a small town of Montevarchi, 20-30 minutes away by train. We took the 9am train from Santa Maria Novella (direction to Rome), and then a cab from Montevarchi train station to the outlet. The cab should cost you around 12 EUR each way, cheaper if you share the ride with fellow bargain hunters.
Now this part is very important. Though the doors don’t actually open until 9:30am or 10:30am (see store hours above), once you get to the outlet, before you do anything, make sure to get a number from the machine next to the entrance. It doesn’t matter if you are number 1 or number 21, since it seems that they let around 100 people at a time (or at least that’s what the sign said), as long as you have one of those little pieces of paper, you’ll be able to get in and shop (but then again, it doesn’t hurt to ensure that you get one of the lower digits). Once you have your number, you can sit down at Space Cafe and work on your shopping strategy relax.
So initially, I had strict instructions for le boyfriend on the items that I might want and he needs to grab for me (I don’t mess around), but it turned out that shopping at Space Montevarchi isn’t chaotic at all – no hair pulling in sight. Selection of shoes, clothes, bags and other accessories is quite extensive (much MUCH better than at Foxtown or Woodbury), so unless you’re looking for a specific item, there’s no need to lose your mind and be all shaky and psychotic.
The store is broken up into sections, and you are not allowed to carry items from one section to another. What you need to do is approach a sales associate, hand the most-wanted items over and tell them your number (remember the number you had to get at the beginning?). Now, they will tell you that you’ll have to purchase those items, so make sure you are 99% sure you want to buy them. Though if you change your mind at the end, I doubt they’d make you buy them – my cashier actually asked me if I’m taking all of my items and let me contemplate them for a minute.
Once you’re done shopping, make sure to fill out a tax free form from the cashier to get the portion of the tax refunded to you (you can either mail it out or get it on the spot at designated locations). You can also ask the cashier to call you a cab to get back to the Montevarchi train station.
All that’s left to do now, is get back to your hotel room and roll around in your new purchases! You went, you saw, you shopped, and hopefully without too much damage to your credit card! Congrats!
And here’s some of my loot!
