Fashion Outlets of Chicago

The Fashion Outlets of Chicago, or shops at Rosement as I call it, is a giant mall located near O'Hare Airport that recently opened on August 1st. I've been hearing nonstop about this mall for a couple of weeks now so I couldn't wait to check it out when it finally opened. I was sick with an infection this weekend so I wasn't able to attend the grand opening, but I heard from a lot of friends that the mall was completely insane; both good and bad insane. 

Fashion Outlets of Chicago

According to my sources, the stores at the mall were great and the deals/bargains were good, but the mall was packed to the point where it was suffocating and the lines were ridiculously long at every store. After hearing all of this my mom and I decided to wait it out until a weekday so that it wouldn't be as crowded and busy. We were both free of work obligations on Monday afternoon so at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon we headed out to the Fashion Outlets of Chicago.

Before we even entered the mall I was amazed by it and not because of how the outside looked or anything architectural like that. I'm embarrassed to say this, but it was the parking lot that had me so astounded. In my defense it was extremely cool and I'd never seen anything like it. Huge electronic signs listed every floor of the parking garage and how many spots were open on each level. To me, that was cool enough, but then it got better. The signs knew how many spots were available because each parking spot had a little light attached to the ceiling above it. If a spot was already taken, the light was red, but if the spot was open than the light was green. This let drivers know where available spots were and made parking 100 times easier because you weren't aimlessly driving down aisles and levels looking for an open spot. Now you could just search for a green light; simple as that.

But enough about the parking lot. The mall was huge as well. And not only that, but it looked upscale and had cool artwork scattered around. (Side note: the bathroom's were extremely nice). Neither my mom or I was on a time schedule or were looking for anything specific so we decided to wander around the mall and stop in whatever stores we wanted to. It so happened that the first store we were in front of was the Bloomingdale's outlet. Jackpot!

Inside of the crowded mall

I've made a style haul video (attached below) of all the adorable things that I bought while shopping so I won't tell you here, but I was a pretty successful shopper! There was a buy $50 get $25 off deal going on at the Bloomingdale's outlet, which was an amazing & helpful deal! The Saks and Nike outlet stores had some good sales as well (Forever 21 didn't because it wasn't an outlet). My mom and I stopped in Gucci, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew and some other stores, but didn't buy anything at those places. 

The Fashion Outlets of Chicago is home to a Tory Burch outlet. I've never heard of a Tory Burch outlet  ever existing before and was dying to go because I love Tory (their purses are my absolute favorite). Unfortunately the line to get into the store was at least an hour long and I sadly didn't have the patience to wait so we skipped the store. No other store had a line to enter, although all the other stores had lines for their dressing rooms and to purchase items, but neither of those were too time-consuming to wait in. 

Even though the mall was still a little crowded even on a weekday, I would definitely go back and I highly recommend others in the area to check it out as well! Hopefully next time I go I can actually shop at the Tory Burch outlet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASb_kt1WILs&feature=youtu.be