We have one 2 hours away from me....and sometimes I hop in the car and go. It's great, I never know what I will find but the prices aren't phenomenal either.

I would call the outlet and ask if they have what you want. At least you'll know about some things. You might try ebay too for the specific linens.

I have called this one inquiring about items and they were always very helpful and knowledgeable.

I'm 30 minutes from there. They have told me to call them and ask if you are looking for something in particular and they can tell you if they have it. My biggest issue is the No Return Policy. So you really have to know that what you are buying will work.

I think the RH outlet might be gone from there, didn't notice it last time I was up there (about 5 weeks ago).

And afterwards you can always head across the street and take in a show....I think Bobby Vinton was just there not too long ago ;) Only the latest acts come to Lancaster.

RHO is in the Philadelphia Outlets in Limerick. I'm pretty sure ther isn't one in Rockvale or Tanger in Lancaster.

It's been so long since I;ve been out that way. If it's still there Tony Wangs always had the best most amazing Chinese Food!

We used to sneak in Dutch Wonderland through the back at lunch time and go swimming.

I remember 30 was just a 2 lane road through there and my grandmother would always tell me about when it was practically a dirt road and she would ride her bike down it! I'd probably cry if I saw the area now.

I lived and worked right by it and Mrs. Wang would always feed me dinner for free. She must have felt sorry for me living all by myself out there. She was always trying to find a husband for me LOL!

Ours is also about an hour's drive one way and I seldom buy anything there. The prices aren't I-have-to-buy-this-it's-so-cheap. They always have tons of glassware items, returned furniture, and overstock of things that didn't sell in the catalog. As far as pillow covers, I have more luck with reduced prices in their main stores or online. I do remember some holiday items, but only for the current past holiday; it was Easter when we went. Also, much of the stock is Wiliams-Sonoma stuff, so it's linens and tabletop.
Dee

Ours is about an hour away as well. I love going there and sometimes you can really score a good deal. Like Dee says, they have some returned furniture and new furniture too, which is not always priced very good. However, I was recently up there looking at dining chairs and was surprised at how much lower the prices were compared to their stores; about 30.00 per chair less. I got our queen sheet set there for 99.00, they are the best sheets I've ever had, love them. My duvet set was there too...marked down by about 20%, same price as in the catalog.

I was also in the market for drapes and every time I've been up there since January the only drapes they've had are the Silk Dupioni, Camerons, Textured Cotton and some sheers. I loved the Textured Cotten drapes, they were great. When I couldn't find them in the store, the manager at the outlet said they were made specifically for the outlet. I think a lot of the stuff they carry is.

My best find was my pillow covers. A few months back they had a huge sale of the prior years summer stuff, I got my embroidered covers for 1/2 the price of what they were in the store or catalog. At 10.00 each, the feather pillow inserts were cheaper than Joann's.

Having specific things in mind, I would definitely call. I'm always asked if I want their emails saying whats on sale, the clerks swear the emails are for the Outlet store, but the only ones I ever get are only for the main store which is frustrating because it would help to know when there is a good sale going on there.

lukkiirish - funny you mention items made specifically for PBO. That was one of the reasons that I never really shopped many of the Rockvale Sq. & Tanger Outlet stores. Most of them had their own line of items made specifically for the Outlets and at not much better prices than a regular store.

I understand that the prices on the soft goods & accessories are decent and that they often have additional % off sales to get an even better price.

Yeah Todd, I know. Our states "largest Outlet" is down the road from where we live. It's always been an outlet but a lot of the true outlet stores are gone now and it's all about Micheal Kors, Saks and Bloomingdales. All with made for Outlet products. I only go there to walk the track like floor plan, never to shop.

On the flip side though, what I can appreciate about the PB store is that while some of the items may be made for the outlet stores, they are still very PB looking, the quality is the same and the prices are still 10-20% less then if they were in the stores, some items have a bigger discount than that. I also think at least with our PBO that it's a good mix of both. Those textured cotton drapes I liked were made for the outlet, and were nicer than the textured cotton drapes they have in their stores. The bedding doesn't seem to be made for the outlet. I bought our duvet when it first came out at the store but it was in the Outlet last March. The embroidered Audubon bird covers were clearance as well 50.00 in the store, 25.00 in the outlet. There is an apothecary styled tv stand I'd give my eye teeth for, it's a couple hundred dollars less in the Outlet then on their site too. It's stuff like that that makes me believe it's worth the trip to hunt through stuff and see what you can find. To me, that's just part of the fun. :c)

ttodd, they did have one there, but maybe they decided to consolidate them up to the Limerick location. I always enjoyed going in there, however things were still very expensive, imo.

how's the paint decision going, btw?

I live about 15 minutes from one and all I can say is if you see a chair or sofa you like you'd better be ready to buy it cause it will be gone the next day! It happened to me, I went there not looking to buy but found exactly what I wanted I couldn't physically take it home until the next day and when I got there with a trailer *poof* gone! They had decent prices on metal bedframes but most were in the Full size.

The rest of the stuff in there like decorative stuff was plentiful when we move into our new build I will be hitting the PB outlet up for baskets for my Mud Room.

Oh BKW you don't even want to know! I've made it to the stage of where I'm laughing at myself! I know what I want to do but I feel like what's the point if I don't have the sofa that I'm saving up for. I know what colors I'm using but I don't feel inspired to do anything w/o the 'crown jewel' first. LOL!

Thanks for your feedback! I'm def. not looking for furniture - just linens and possible knick knacks if I feel that it's the right piece. I will def. make a plan to hit PBO.

Hey- How about a GW PBO road trip to Lancaster? it is about 1 and 1/2 hours from Baltimore. I have been meaning to go up to check it out. My daughter and I used to go to the quilt show in Lancaster every year. I am up for it.
ttodd can show us her fav craft shop too. anyone?

That sounds like a fun idea, CB. If I'm not traveling, I'll meet everyone at the outlet. As long as lunch is involved.

I'd love to!

Oh yah, gotta be lunch.

I'm within driving distance to Lancaster and have been thinking of going to the outlet. Post a date and I'll try to make it.

Also, I have 2 Deirdre organic euro shams I'm not using. I bought them to stage my last house for sale and then put them away in my trunk. Email me if you're interested.

If you have specific items you want, try ebay. There are better prices than the outlets for the most part and you don't need to spend gas or time to find them.... I got my Pb light fixture through ebay for much less than retail.

budgiemom - I didn't see your e-mail address when I clicked on your name. Can you shoot me an e-mail?

Thanks!

Would any of you be interested in a Fall date?

dianalo - I frequent e-bay on a reguar basis. PB shams have become my go-to for pillow shams so I really don't bother looking at any other brnds.

All of my other PB shams are from e-bay.

Fall would now be better for me- my job status is now questionable- so no shopping plans for a bit. :(

I gave in 3 months ago and bought the burlap shades in the darker color from my local Pottery Barn. I found some really similar for just over half the PB price at Home Goods, brought them home and tried them out on my bedroom lamps. Nice. But the PB variety really appealed to me. I do hate paying full price, so almost kept the Home Goods. Daughter who knows me well asked if I would be content. Had to say no. I LOVE them!! They show the bulb underneath when lit, which I like. They also have seams, which I like. Haven't missed the HG since I returned them.
I also love the Alessandra linens, such a pretty toile!

Red

Hey Red! I've been eyeing up those burlap shades for quite some time too! Saw them in Janinwi post and was sold.

I'm interested in the trip - I sent you an email to the address I had from a year or so ago. Hopefully that's still the right one!

FWIW, fall may be better time to go than now. It was never a problem before the economy took a dive but they changed the stores format a couple of years ago, cutting back on at least half of the inventory. They only seem to stock up in fall and spring. It seems they use summer and winter to get rid of holiday & seasonal items and just let the normal inventory wain while pushing the other stuff. It doesn't get restocked much at all and when it's gone, it's gone.

I took the hike to our local store last week to look for dining chairs. It's an hour north of here and pretty much all the store had going on was the summer clearance and a large stock of bigger sized furniture pieces. The bedding area was almost completely empty, the sheets has all sizes in only white, the colors are almost gone. Shelves for quilts and duvets, lamps and drapes are also pretty much cleared out. Bathroom accessories, only 1 shelf as opposed to several rows. They also used to have several rows of chairs & bar stools, now they're just lined up against the back wall.

This is the second year this has happened, so maybe it's the new normal with the economy. It was sure a trip wasted for me. :c( Just thought I'd give you all a heads up...you may want to call and see how their inventory is before you decide on a date to go.

I've been following this discussion and wanted to tell everyone I was at the PB store in Lancaster today. It is partly PB and partly kids/teens PB. I really needed bedding (duvet, sheets, etc.) for my daughter's room. Well...lemme tell ya, there was NOTHING worth the money, IMO. The majority of duvet covers were upwards of $60 and many were around the $99 mark. The only window coverings they had were drapes, the shiny slubbed silk ones. There were alot of candles, hurricanes, and several lines of dishes that are being phased out but even these were around $7 - $10 a piece. I left without a single thing. I have gotten much better deals during sales at my regular retail PB in Princeton and have found even better deals on PB like copies in the Linden Hill line of housewares at JCPenneys. Oh, furniture was not much disccounted. A sideboard that was regularly $1200 was marked down to $999, for example. In general, the savings were very minimal and the merchandise was in some cases, a little dented, dirty, imperfect. Sorry to dash everyone's hopes but unless you hit it right and get lucky, it's probably not worth going too far out of your way to get to this outlet store. I know I won't rush back. They did say you could get alerted to special sales by signing up for their emails.

Yes, it's very true, you do have to time it just right, but I have gotten some reasonable deals (well, what I thought were reasonable) on several things from there that I was already in love with at the regular stores. My pillow covers are the perfect example. I loved the embroidered bird ones they had, but would NOT pay 50.00 for one. They were over 1/2 off in the outlet. That was at the beginning of spring. My sheets I wouldn't trade for the world, 99.00 for a queen set. I checked the thread count this last time I was there, it's 400. That was in the fall.

FWIW, don't bother with the emails, they tell me that all the time too. I never get anything Outlet related. Every time I go, I inquire, and each time I'm told the same thing over and over, but it just ain't so. The best way to ensure the store will be full when you go is to call and inquire. Ask specifically if they are waiting for new stuff or if they have just received new stock. Ask what their sale encompasses, that will be a clue too. If it's seasonal, forget it, if it's bedding, draperies, rugs or lamps there is a good chance it's stocked.

Thanks for the feedback!

I def. wouldn't be going for large pieces of anything. Just the 'filler' in items that I could easily pack away when desired.

I wonder when the best time to go in Fall would be?

Well, that's the hard part and why you need to call. If my memory serves me, when we went with my Mom, it was the first week of November and the stock was looking pretty good, not just for fall and the clearance of the 2010 inventory, but for Christmas too. So I'd say start calling in the end of September, beginning of October and plan for October or beginning of November sometime.

I go fairly often, about every 6 weeks or so. I can try to keep you posted of how our store looks. It would at least be a good indicator for you.

Thanks lukkiirish - that was very helpful!