Sano is an ordinary rural town surrounded by rice paddies and fields, but it has a huge outlet mall. When I actually went, the place was packed, and I have no idea how everyone found out about it.
A view of Sano Premium Outlets
It belongs to the Chelsea group, so the layout is almost identical to the Gotemba and Rinku outlets. The brand lineup is solid too. A certain brand I personally like was not there (it had a store at the Karuizawa outlet), which was a little disappointing, but this time my main goal was daily necessities and sports gear, so it did not really matter.
Prada
Gucci, Ferragamo and pretty much every luxury brand you can think of are here. The prices are quite reasonable too. Korean duty-free shops are still the cheapest for luxury goods, but these days I do not get to go to Korea as often as I used to, and the outlet has such a wide selection that it is great for shopping. Not that I bought any of it, I was just looking..
The sky
Perfect weather for shopping. That day I bought running shoes and workout clothes at a very low price, and after that I ran almost every day, which did wonders for my health. Even if outlet prices are quite low, once you factor in the round-trip transport (over 3,000 yen per person) it was not exactly a bargain, but if you count it as a weekend trip as well, it came out ahead.
A chocolate drink from Godiva
Maybe because we started shopping after lunch, there was so much to see that it was pretty exhausting. We took a break in the middle for a drink and then kept at it until late at night. If I come again, I should eat somewhere near the outlet and spend more time on the shopping.