Because I don’t own a car, when I get a hankering to visit the United States of America, I have to beg my friends R & V to take me. I try to be subtle by asking when they next plan to go to the US, but we all know why I’m asking. Thankfully they remain both game and gracious, and I am writing this from our hotel room in Waterloo, NY, home of the Waterloo Premium outlets, where R, V, their son and I are crashing. We had a smooth drive down, thanks to R’s willingness to do the honours, and 3 Walmarts, one Target and the Syracuse mall later, here we are.

We were last here in November, when I almost became the proud owner of a Coach bag, but resisted because I wasn’t ready to plunk down that kind of cash. Tonight I was not so wishy-washy: we arrived in the city around 8pm and the only outlet store we decided to visit tonight was Coach. The kind lady at the entry handed V and I each a coupon giving us 20% off all purchases and 30% off purchases over $250. By pooling our purchases (we each got a purse), we were able to save 30% off our bags, which was actually a better deal than what they were offering on Black Friday! My bag came to $84 before taxes.

I’m thrilled. My bag isn’t half as cute as V’s, but the bag she got didn’t pass my arm test: any shoulder bag I buy must be able to be smoothly maneuvered from my hand to my shoulder without getting caught on a beefy arm along the way. The bag I bought was the only one that passed.

I’m tempted to take a closer look at Coach’s offerings tomorrow; especially if the coupon is still valid!

*title refers to my friends for allowing me to sucker them into taking me along, and to me for falling prey to Coach’s advertising and hype regarding their products

Filed under: Adventure, Friends by jummy