I was so excited to finally go to the Montreal Premium Outlet Mall, but I have to say it wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I will preface this by saying that the day I went, it was pouring rain, and the whole mall lost power for like 10 minutes. I have tried not to let this influence my opinion of the mall because obviously that was not the mall's fault, but it is possible that I would have a more favourable opinion of the mall had I gone on a sunny and pleasant day.
There's a Hudson's Bay outlet that I would consider cool if not for the fact that in Ottawa we have a similar place (it's still called Zellers though, but it's not like the old Zellers at all, it's essentially an outlet for The Bay). Admittedly, this Bay outlet has a greater quantity of "higher end" handbags (Marc Jacobs, Coach, Botkier, etc.) than the Ottawa location, but that's really the only difference. I was really hoping for a shopping experience I couldn't get in Ottawa.
They did have a Cosmetics Company Outlet (which we don't have in Ottawa), and it was cool, but not as cool as the one in the Premium Outlet Mall in Cookstown, ON in terms of trial/travel sized items (which is what I love buying at CCO).
They do have a Gucci outlet and a Salvatore Ferragamo outlet for the high rollers, lol.
There's also a Sarah Pacini outlet which was pretty cool (most items were $75 for 1, or 2 for $100).
Then there was a store called K-Way. Yes, K-Way the makers of the windbreakers that folded into a fanny pack that was oh so popular way back when, lol. Now the strange thing is that they had K-Way branded jackets towards the back of their store, but at the front they had designer clothes for women! There were a lot of one-of pieces and samples, but the prices were great. They had a Helmut Lang tank top for only $19 (sadly, not my size), and some Issa dresses for $59.99 (yes, Issa, as in the dress that Kate Middleton wore for her engagement photos Issa, lol), also not in my size. They had a lot of Kendall + Kylie pieces too (and these they had lots of sizes in the same style, not just random items). So I don't know if they are re-branding or what, but it was odd to have designer dresses next to K-Way packable camping jackets, haha. Anyway, I thought this was the coolest store in the whole mall!
The food court was pretty limited (as is usually the case at these types of malls). They had a Zouki's (shawarma), Kung Pao Wok (Chinese), Umi Teriyaki (Japanese), A&W Burgers, and Pannizza (Pizza). There's also a Presse Café not technically in the food court, but right next to it. That's it. Those are your dining options!
My husband and I were planning on going into Blainville and having lunch at a little independent Italian restaurant, but since it was bucketing rain and I was hangry, we ate at the food court. The hubster got a chicken shawarma at Zouki's and he said it was ok, but overpriced at about $9 for a small shawarma. I had a beef udon soup at Umi Teriyaki ($9.99) and it was not good. I'll spare you the details here, but if you're interested, I reviewed it under "Umi Teriyaki."
Guest Services is in the food court and they have maps of the mall. They also provide free coupon booklets to CAA Members. I got one and the coupons are not spectacular. Most can only be used on regular-priced merchandise and the discount is minimal, like 10% off. Nonetheless, it's worth getting and taking a look if it's free. I personally would not pay for the coupon booklet though.
I think this would be a nice place to walk around if the weather was nice. I didn't spot too many great deals and I walked away empty-handed though. read more