Factory is an outlet mall located just outside of Kraków. Obviously, it's not a real factory…read moreoutlet. You'd need to be in China or Bangladesh to find those. It's simply a regular mall whose main draw are large discounts.
Very roughly, I would say, around 10% of the products offered here are discounted while the remaining 90% are priced regularly--that is, with a modest discount off an artificially inflated list price. To find the real bargains, you have to hunt for them. Last week, I managed to find a couple shirts for 30 zł each and a nice ceramic blade for 50 zł, which normally sells for 80-90 zł.
Personally, I like the Desigual and Reserved shops. Most things at Desigual are way too expensive for my taste but there are usually a few items that are attractively priced. Meanwhile, as Reserved is a domestic brand, prices are usually fairly reasonable to begin with. When discounted the clothes here can be real bargains. The designs are pretty trendy as well. It's a way to dress fashionably at an affordable price point without being clad head to toes in H&M gears.
I'm also rather fond of Dajar Home & Garden. It sells many tools of the kitchen at eye-opening prices. When I was there last it was selling a non-stick ceramic-lined wok for 59 zł. Normally, it costs close to 200 zł at a regular shop. As I have a very nice wok already, I ended up walking out with a very nice knife.
Factory is worth an occasionally visit. By car, it's pretty easy--there're plenty of parking spaces. By public transportation it's hard to reach, as it's outside the reach of normal buses and trams. The aglomeracyjne buses take you there, but they're pretty infrequent and you'd still need to walk quite a bit. The free mall buses are probably your best bet if you don't have a car. They operate in two lines, one going to Nowa Huta and another to Rondo Matecznego, with stops in between. You can find the schedules at the website.
