Birchwood Outlet

[ArtDeco]

If anyone's in two minds as to whether to pop down there at the mo, here's what I found yesterday:

Orecks at £79.99
Quite a number of Butler and Wilson flowery necklaces and Lola Rose rings, all perfect
Virtually no DMQ
Half the Birkenstock inventory in sizes that looked like they'd be too big for a yeti (and that's an observation from someone with size eight hooves)
Most of the CDs recently sold on air for between £3-5 (Fisherman's Friends, Billy Ocean, The Priests, John Barrowman etc)
A Casual and Co cream cotton jacket that couldn’t IMHO be described as ‘gorgeous’ but was simple, pretty and a mad price of £1.99
Some Sonic Plakaway flossing tools that must be for an early model as they emphatically do not fit my TSV from last Nov...grrr...good job they were only £2.99
Those meal machine things that look like toasted sandwich makers, think they were £4.99
Loads of Furminators
Some, but not tons of Northern Night and Cooks Essentials – a lot less than they usually have I think
A lovely older gent looking for a ring with nine stones in for his good lady wife, to mark the arrival of their ninth grandchild I think. Cue whole shop dissolving into sea of "aawwws" :heart:

I managed to get my mattress topper less than half price and another Jack the Lad juicer for my Dad who’s been coveting mine, I thought I did well at £29.99 but his was £9.99! It was the last one though, and it is the most nauseating luminous yellow colour...

HTH and good bargain hunting to anyone planning a trip :nod:

 

[Mrs James]

might be worth a trip for the fishermen's friends :happy:

 

[BusyMum]

anyone know if there's an outlet within reach of Notts? Would love to have a rummage!

 

[LorraineJ]

There are only two outlets in the UK, one at Birchwood, Warrington, the other is in Shrewsbury. I quite fancy a rummage too, but thats going to have to wait.

 

[lilylurknomore]

If anyone's in two minds as to whether to pop down there at the mo, here's what I found yesterday:

Orecks at £79.99
Quite a number of Butler and Wilson flowery necklaces and Lola Rose rings, all perfect
Virtually no DMQ
Half the Birkenstock inventory in sizes that looked like they'd be too big for a yeti (and that's an observation from someone with size eight hooves)
Most of the CDs recently sold on air for between £3-5 (Fisherman's Friends, Billy Ocean, The Priests, John Barrowman etc)
A Casual and Co cream cotton jacket that couldn’t IMHO be described as ‘gorgeous’ but was simple, pretty and a mad price of £1.99
Some Sonic Plakaway flossing tools that must be for an early model as they emphatically do not fit my TSV from last Nov...grrr...good job they were only £2.99
Those meal machine things that look like toasted sandwich makers, think they were £4.99
Loads of Furminators
Some, but not tons of Northern Night and Cooks Essentials – a lot less than they usually have I think
A lovely older gent looking for a ring with nine stones in for his good lady wife, to mark the arrival of their ninth grandchild I think. Cue whole shop dissolving into sea of "aawwws" :heart:

I managed to get my mattress topper less than half price and another Jack the Lad juicer for my Dad who’s been coveting mine, I thought I did well at £29.99 but his was £9.99! It was the last one though, and it is the most nauseating luminous yellow colour...

HTH and good bargain hunting to anyone planning a trip :nod:

Blimey bargains galore! So are they all returns? Do you have to have a rummage through to find the best/working items? Also (being nosey), what did you get your mattress topper for? Will be interested to hear if it's any good too.

 

[LuvKipling]

anyone know if there's an outlet within reach of Notts? Would love to have a rummage!

We live in Nottingham and have a sunday day out about every 6 weeks, it takes a couple of hours to get there but we enjoy it. We're hoping to go this Sunday.

ArtDeco -thanks for the update, did you notice if there was much craft stuff?

 

[ArtDeco]

We live in Nottingham and have a sunday day out about every 6 weeks, it takes a couple of hours to get there but we enjoy it. We're hoping to go this Sunday.

ArtDeco -thanks for the update, did you notice if there was much craft stuff?

Hello LuvKipling, I'm not a crafter so usually skirt round that section! But it looked as if there was quite a bit of stuff there. I think there were some card making kits (I did glance as I'm thinking of getting into card making at some point - I imagine it might be quite relaxing and therapeutic to sit still and concentrate, and have a finished product to show my labour? :nod: But I digress...!) However, from what ranges said cards originate, I have no idea, sorry. Good to hear you can get there from Notts. I'm just an hour from Manchester but I can change at Oxford Road and hop off one train straight onto another and I'm at Birchwood in less than 15 mins. I posted after my first trip a few months back to say I couldn't believe how easy it was to get to on public transport in terms of being near to Birchwood station, I'd always imagined it to be some massive out of town retail park in the middle of a spaghetti junction, accessible only by car, I hate those places.

Blimey bargains galore! So are they all returns? Do you have to have a rummage through to find the best/working items? Also (being nosey), what did you get your mattress topper for? Will be interested to hear if it's any good too.

Lilylurknomore, I'm very happy to say I paid £51.50 for my topper! It should've been £112.45 with P&P I think. It was the only one and I think it was brought out whilst I was looking elsewhere, they had just had a delivery and it wasn't there when I walked in (I made a beeline for the bedding!) but it was there when I had a final walk back round. An older chap may have had his eye on it but I had the benefit of youth (just) and swooped. Only joking, he said it was a bargain and if there were two I should stick the second on Ebay. Don't think I could have got two back on the train though!

I think the vast majority of stuff are returns, but that doesn't mean things don't work/are damaged, I think things are sent there rather than being put back into stock if they were already in clearance, or if if would be more hassle than it's worth to re-package one item, find the right place in the massive warehouse and re-stock it online etc. I've bought two juicers from there now, and both had a sticker on with the details of an electrical safety test performed when they were accepted back as returns, I don't imagine QVC would send those out again 'as new' with a label stuck to them, hence why they end up at the Outlet. Also there are things there that I can imagine have been returned by people simply because they didn't like them, for instance, my best friend got a Lola Rose necklace she had been after for a while for £30 (should have been over £90) because one of the stones had no striations at all and another had one very noticable striation. She loved these natural markings but to someone else it may have made it unattractive. There are also large stocks of some products that have clearly never been sent out - NN, Birkenstocks, Travelon handbags - clearly in the original packaging and folded/packed/sealed in that factory way that can't be replicated by a human hand! I suspect these may have been TSV's that didn't sell so well. Before I went I assumed everything would be sold as seen, no returns etc, but they still have the 30day MBG (except earrings interestingly). The lovely ladies who work on the jewellery counter told me that they are sent all items that are used on air, which would explain why there are lots of rings in sizes K, L & M! Ooh, to think, a piece of my bling might have Pipa Gordon's DNA on it...:wink:

 

[silversequin]

ooh ArtDeco it sounds tempting. My son lives in Manchester and altho he cruelly mocks my QVC habit he has told me about the outlet. Think may combine my next visit to him with a trip here . Doubt he will acompanny me tho!

 

[amn]

I go regularly and have had all kinds of bargains. It is one of those places where you can go sometimes and get tons of stuff worth having and sometimes there's nothing.
I went the week before last and got this http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.693960.cm_scid.KeywordSearch for £14, which I was really pleased with.

 

[BusyMum]

There are only two outlets in the UK, one at Birchwood, Warrington, the other is in Shrewsbury. I quite fancy a rummage too, but thats going to have to wait.

Oh bugger! OH took us up to Cheshire Oaks retail outlet a couple of months ago - if only I'd known at the time we might have pulled in a visit to the QVC outlet as it must be in the vicinity. Sadly I can't see him wanting to go that way again anytime soon!

 

[BusyMum]

We live in Nottingham and have a sunday day out about every 6 weeks, it takes a couple of hours to get there but we enjoy it. We're hoping to go this Sunday.

ArtDeco -thanks for the update, did you notice if there was much craft stuff?

It took us about two and a half hours to get to the Cheshire Oaks outlet, but then if you go up that way regularly perhaps you know a better route than the one we took! Maybe I'll get there one day, you never know your luck in a raffle..:grin:

 

[Crocus]

I'm so pleased to hear that it seems to have improved. I was there in April, and then went back again in July - both times I was so disappointed! Nothing but craft stuff and clothes - nothing else was any good whatsoever; certainly not like in the past when I ALWAYS got so many wonderful bargains.

Maybe I'll give it another chance the next time I'm down in Liverpool.

 

[rainbowdottie]

living down sarf,I've no hope of ever reaching a QVC outlet store.

What I cannot understand,is why they don't reduce their stock right down in clearance,if they can afford to do it in their outlet stores???

 

[Boris Bear]

We live in Nottingham and have a sunday day out about every 6 weeks, it takes a couple of hours to get there but we enjoy it. We're hoping to go this Sunday.

ArtDeco -thanks for the update, did you notice if there was much craft stuff?

I went on bank holiday Monday and the craft items were rubbish. There were some of the binding machines though (Cinch?) but I cannot remember the price. The rest of the stuff looked like the same old half empty packs of dog-eared paper. Of course you coud be lucky if they have re-stocked but that's how it was on Monday - sorry!

 

[iggy]

Shrewsbury have been selling their mattress toppers for £29.99....we grabbed ours agesss ago when they were needing space & paid £20 for it & bought all 3 kids one too [ all grown up & fled the nest ]couldnt live without it now even if perish the thought i had to pay FULL price for one
.we paid £99.99 for our oreck BUT it came with the hand held canister as well......ALL ELECTRICIAL EQUIPMENT has to go somewhere to be PACK TESTED so i am told hence you can see the tested by xxxx on things.....[ dont shout at me if that wrong as thats what ive been told ]
craft kits usually loads but the discount has now been discontinued..depends on how you drop on them if any good or not......overall worth a trip out......i went up top cheshire a few years back & got a lovely white gold ring with 1/2 carat diamond in for about £50.....was well chuffed

 

[Pick-a-Lily]

..ALL ELECTRICIAL EQUIPMENT has to go somewhere to be PACK TESTED

It's PAT tested, as in Portable Appliance Testing.

 

[amn]

Oh bugger! OH took us up to Cheshire Oaks retail outlet a couple of months ago - if only I'd known at the time we might have pulled in a visit to the QVC outlet as it must be in the vicinity. Sadly I can't see him wanting to go that way again anytime soon!

Its not really nearby - its about 25 miles away.
Ali.

 

[amn]

living down sarf,I've no hope of ever reaching a QVC outlet store.

What I cannot understand,is why they don't reduce their stock right down in clearance,if they can afford to do it in their outlet stores???

Because they dont have loads of one particular item, not enough to sell on the telly, and quite often just the odd one or two. And a lot of the things are returns, which they couldnt re-sell as new.

 

[rainbowdottie]

but even in clearance theres only a handful or one or two (obviously i'm not suggesting that these items go into the outlet hours on the TV) but there could be a bargain internet clearance.

A lot of returns are cirrently going out at full price (less said about that the better:headbang but they could advertise things as returned?

 

[rosey]

but even in clearance theres only a handful or one or two (obviously i'm not suggesting that these items go into the outlet hours on the TV) but there could be a bargain internet clearance.

A lot of returns are cirrently going out at full price (less said about that the better:headbang but they could advertise things as returned?

The thing is with the outlet you can at least have a rummage and find a used item which is usable. Some are obviously in better condition than others. If you bought a used item online you have no way of knowing what it is going to be like and seeing the state of some of the items in the Outlet I would not want to risk it!!!!