threadies

I am hoping to do some shopping at outlet stores near SFO during our holiday and have found some on the internet in 3 different places - Napa , Petaluma Village & Gilroy.

I think maybe Napa is too far. Gilroy seems to have the best variety of stores, but seems to be quite a long way out of SFO. Can anyone advise how far it is and how long it would take to get there? We wont have a car, but the website says Caltrain and Greyhound buses go there.

Any advice would be appreciated.

SAB

I usually stop at the Gilroy outlets on my way to Carmel and they are about 1 and 15 mins drive from SF, 15 mins less if you really referring to SFO (the airport). I know nothing about buses, and I think Gilroy is only serviced by Caltrain during commute hours.

Shanti

It's been a few years since I was last at Petaluma Village but, unless it has expanded since then, it's a bit small. Gilroy is a bit better. I haven't been to the Napa location.

Personally, I think the Vacaville outlet stores offer the largest selection but I don't know about public transportation between Vacaville & SF. However, all four of these towns are at least an hour or two away from SF.

sf7307

Agreed, they are FAR. Of the ones you mentioned, I think it would only be worth it to travel so far to Vacaville or Gilroy (they are much bigger than the other two, Gilroy having slightly more stores than Vacaville -- according to their respective websites, Gilroy has 145 stores, Vacaville, 120, Petaluma, 60 and Napa, 50). All are operated by Simon and I think they have many of the same stores. I have no idea about public transportation, sorry.

november_moon

SF to Gilroy on public transportation will take awhile to get there - the route is fairly straightforward, but you would need to really want to go shoping to make the trip worth the time.

There are multiple Caltrain runs between SF and San Jose throughout the day, then there are VTA buses that go to Gilroy. So you could do this:

1. Caltrain from SF to SJ Diridon station
2. VTA bus to Gilroy - Both the 168 and 68 bus routes service Diridon station and the Gilroy Transit Center. 168 is an express with limited inbetween stops, 68 stops at all stops in between.
3. VTA bus 14 services the outlets from the Gilroy transit center.

http://www.vta.org/

yk

Are there "Shopping tours" by bus which you can take from SF? The reason I ask is that here in MA, we have a premium outlet (same operator as the ones you mentioned in your post) in Southern MA. There are definitely shopping tours one can sign up which provides transportation to/from the outlet and downtown Boston.

I suspect there should be similar tours in SF?

SAB

There is some tour called Outlet Hop that charges something like $75 per person--you would be better off going to Union Square and shopping sales!!!

janisj

I totally agree w/ SAB -- you wouldn't save enough to cover the time and expense to get to either Gilroy or Vacaville.

If you did go -- w/ the lousy logistics/transfers, it would take you a few hours to get there and more getting back to SF.

curiousgeo

We've been to the Gilroy outlet a few times while staying in Carmel and Monterey. It is quite large with 3 sections of stores. My wife loves it and could spend all day there, me maybe a couple of hours at most.

If you had a car and could drive down and back at your leisure, then it would be worth a day trip. It's probably an hour and a half drive (as long as you don't hit rush hour around Silicon Valley). I don't think it would be worth taking public transportation, as others have pointed out, quite a hassle, costly and a very long day.

sf7307

It's probably an hour and a half drive --

That's about right - it's about 78 miles south of San Francisco on Highway 101.

threadies

Many thanks to you all for this information. Not sure whether it will be worth spending the best part of a day of our holiday traveling out there. I think we will make the decision whether to go or not when we are in SFO.
I like the idea of shopping in the sales instead.

Shanti

Shopping sales in SF makes a whole lot more sense. The time estimates I gave earlier were based on driving. It would take longer using public transportation. And, frankly, traffic in the SF metropolitan area is a pain in the a$$.

sf7307

When will you be here (what dates?)

LoveItaly

Hello, threadies, I live walking distant to the mentioned Vacaville Outlet stores. Quite frankly, and our local Chamber of Commerce would not appreciate my post, I and most of the residents do not usually shop at our Vacaville Outlet stores. The clothing stores mostly have clothes made for the Outlet's and they are not the same as the regular brands. There are some stores that are good, kitchen items etc. But quite frankly I wouldn't bother going from SF to here to shop at our Outlet stores.

I do sometimes see tour busses but I have no idea where they are from. It seems to me most of those that arrive on the tour busses are visitors from other countries.

When I need to do serious shopping I prefer to shop in SF.

november_moon

LoveItaly - It seems that the outlets used to be a different experience. They'd have last season's items that didn't sell out or seconds where a seam wasn't right or something. My mom is a good seamstress, so our family would go looking for deals on items that needed some type of minor repair. We'd get all kinds of good stuff that way. Or since we lived on the central coast, the warmest weather is just after summer, so we'd go in September and find good deals on summer clothes when the mall shops were stocking boots and sweaters.

You're right though - now the stores seem to stock stuff made specifically for outlets and I don't think the deals are as good.

LoveItaly

Hi there, november_moon. I so agree with you. We use to drive from the SF/Bay Area to shop at the Vacaville Outlets. After I moved here and was looking for clothes I was so shocked how the brands that I liked did not fit me, were not the quality that they should have been etc. Well one manager of a well know brand store took me aside and explained that their merchandise was not the same as what could be found in the regular stores but were made just for the outlet stores. Well that explained that! And through friends that have younger relatives that work in the outlet stores here I have learned so much. A big dissapointment. Quite frankly most people here have better luck at Ross or Marshall's.

threadies

We will be in SFO the 2nd week of August.
Shopping in the sales is sounding better and better.
Will the sales be on then? If so should I shop around Union Square or is there a good shopping mall in town?

elnap29

2nd week of August will have all the new clothes for Fall, so the summer wear will be on sale.
Union Square stores and the shopping centers with Nordstroms and Bloomingdale's on Market Street (about 2 blocks from Macy's at Union Square) will be good shopping areas.

sf7307

>>

That's why I asked -- I had hoped you'd be here in time for the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale, but sorry, you won't. Elnap is right, though, all the summer stuff ought to be on sale. The shopping center (San Francisco Centre) to which she refers is fabulous. Don't miss the circular escalator in Nordstrom, and the rotunda (which was "saved" when they built the center around the long-closed Emporium-Capwell store) on the Bloomingdale's side. Excellent food court, and also great sit-down restaurants upstairs.

sf7307

Oh, one more thing, both Macy's and Bloomingdale's have an area set aside for all the clearance items in one place. If you don't mind pawing through messy racks, you can save a bundle if you find something.