Trip to Aurora

The drive to Aurora took around 2 and a half hours and we did not encounter any traffic jam on our way there. It was faster to drive direct to Aurora. Hence, we reached Chicago Premium Outlets rather early, 10 plus Chicago time. There were already quite a number of people there and queues were seen outside certain shops. Some shops were already open...

The 1st shop we entered was Guess as it was the 1st on our way that was open. There were quite a number of people inside already but it was still manageable. The queue to pay was long. Our purchase here was a winter jacket for me. It was a really good buy! Not too ex too, less than USD50. =) No need to freeze in the cold already...

The 1st photo was taken outside the Guess shop after we left it. A queue has already formed outside the shop. Actually it's rather good that they restrict the number of people in a shop at a time, a way to control the crowd.

Our next destination - Timberland. A queue has already formed and we spotted our friends in the queue and joined them. =) And to our surprise, there was actually an extremely long queue outside the Swarovski shop. Swarovski is either very popular here in the USA or that the sale is super good!

Our purchases from Timberland... 2 long sleeve tees, a pair of winter boots and 2 pairs of socks for YH and a pair of gloves for me. I did not managed to find my winter boots here. The design that we chose all did not have my size. =( The queue to pay was long too...

The next shop we visited was Adidas. I managed to find 2 jackets and YH got a pair of shoes. I was also tempted to buy shoes but resisted the temptation as I already have a few pairs and did not need new ones...

We met our friends and they told us Aeropostale's having 50% sale storewide but you have to queue to get in and the queue's rather long. Despite that we headed over to Aeropostale and joined the queue. YH went to us a hot drink while I stayed behind to queue... It was 2 plus in the morning but we were still not tired and happily shopping! =p

We spent quite a while in Aeropostale and below are our trophies from it... 1 hoodie and a rather thick long sleeve tee for YH.

A reversible jacket, knitted half-button hooded sweater, long sleeve henley tee and scarf for me...

Oh and you get a free bear if you spent above USD100... =p

Me with our bag of purchases from Aeropostale outside the shop...

Next was Gap. The prices for Gap items here are much cheaper compared to that in SG. Not sure is it because it is outlet as I have not been to a non outlet Gap store so cannot compare... He got a pair of jeans for around USD30 and a half-zip sweater...

2 basic long sleeve tees and a V-neck sweater for me...

We then saw this store - Eddie Bauer and decided to check it out... Turned out they sell down jackets which are great against the cold! We each bought a down jacket from here... I was looking for a longer jacket, one till around the knees and they had one that we like!

Each bought 3 pairs of wool socks too...

We even got a thermal bag for him to bring his lunch box to school in future... =p

Our purchases from 3 stores... It was already 6am in the morning! Cannot believe we actually shop till morning!!

After putting the bags in the car, we decided to head back to the outlet stores and walk around till day light before moving off... There's still a long queue outside Coach but we were to lazy to queue to get in since we did not think we will buy anything from there. We did visit other shops like Puma, Nike and others but did not buy anymore stuff. Think we had gotten enough winter clothing and had already spent quite a lot... Need to control already... =p In our personal opinion we think that the Black Friday Sale was really good!! Outlet prices are already cheaper and plus the Black Friday Sale, it was even cheaper! No wonder Americans do not mind losing sleep for the sale... Same for us too... =p

Taken at the entrance on our way back to the car for the drive back home...

We had breakfast at McDonald's before driving back... It was another long drive back... The rest of us just fell asleep in the car but poor hubby had to drive...

Website for the Chicago Premium Outlets: http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=63