Spring officially began over a week ago, and warmer weather will soon descend upon Buffalo for good. New outfits will need to replace the parkas, boots, sweatshirts and scarves that have kept students warm and cozy for the past six months, and students will start looking outside their usual shopping locations to find new sales and fashions.
Although there are two fully stocked malls within 15 minutes of North Campus, the Boulevard Mall in Amherst and the Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga, oftentimes students overlook the hidden treasures offered by the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls for their shopping adventures.
Only 20 minutes north of UB and eight minutes from Niagara Falls, the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls are a backyard secret of Western New York, offering customers name brand and designer fashions at prices students can afford.
"The outlet malls usually have reduced price merchandise from tons of buyouts," Mary Whelan, general manager of the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls, said.
She added that customers benefit from these buyouts by receiving large discounts that department stores typically do not offer in their everyday pricing.
The difference between a regular mall and an outlet mall is that instead of housing department stores that offer a selection of products from various designers, outlet malls offer actual stores opened by a particular designer or manufacturer.
"Kaufman's has the Calvin Klein section," Whelan said. "We have the Calvin Klein store."
Historically, the outlet malls that are located in Niagara Falls have been at the top of the list of the highest-rated outlet malls in the country. In the past few years, however, the mall has changed names and ownership a couple of times and has fallen down on that list. Now, under new management, the outlets are hoping to regain the prestige it once had.
The mall, which was previously known as the Outlets at Niagara Falls, USA, is changing a few things in addition to its name. With new owners and a new outlook on the Niagara region, the newly transformed Fashion Outlets of Niagara has recently hired a tourism director who will focus on bringing visitors back to the mall.
Whelan also mentioned that UB students used to be a main target of the mall's customer base.
"In the past, we had UB Days," Whelan said.
There were special days during the week when university students were encouraged to shop at the outlet mall.
"Some stores would even hang signs in their windows welcoming UB students," Whelan said, adding that the mall is looking to offer an opportunity, such as UB Days, to students again in the future.
Located on Military Road, off Exit 22 on I-190, the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls offers stores such as Coach, Fossil, Gap Outlet, Guess, J. Crew, Nine West, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and IZOD.
"I've been past the outlet mall but I've never actually stopped there," Christina Joseph, a senior communications major from New York, said.
Joseph, who is disappointed that she can never find good bargains in Buffalo, would be willing to give the outlets a try, especially with the new spring clothes that are currently on sale there.
"I'd give it a try," she said, "you never know what kind of luck you can have when you're shopping."
With the next closest outlet malls located over an hour away, one off the thruway in Waterloo and the other past Erie in Grove City, Penn., students are encouraged to take advantage of what is offered to them right around the corner.
"Up until a couple of years ago, I didn't even know that mall existed," said Andrew Aul, a UB sophomore undecided major, originally from the Western New York area.
Now that he is aware of the outlets, Aul feels that their convenience and low prices are hard to pass up.
"If you want Polo, you go to the Ralph Lauren store," he said. "You don't have to hunt around for it. You save yourself time, and money."
