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Wrentham Outlets


Recchia

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So me and my friend needed new shoes and decided to go to the Wrentham outlets yesterday. I have never made a worse mistake in my life. That place is pretty damn close to what I would consider a living hell. First of all, traffic was backed up onto 495 all the way down 1A into the friggen place. Literally it took 15 minutes to get to Wrentham from Pawtucket and then 40 minutes to get from 495 a half mile down the road to this hellhole. Second, once you finally get into the hellish place, there is absolutely not one parking space left. This place must have a million parking spaces, yet there was not one open one. So, we just left.

Now of course, we couldn't just leave, we were trapped. To get from the little ring road out to 1A took a half hour. Then to get to the left turn onto 495 it took another 15 minutes. Yes that's 45 minutes just to go less than a half mile. If there ever were an interchange that needed a full cloverleaf, this would be it.

This place is an abomination. There is absolutely no way to get there except by car. It was a truly painful experience and I will never ever ever ever go back.

So my question is, are there any retail outlets that anyone knows of that are designed to keep people sane, or can all we hope for is planning disasters like this one?

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So my question is, are there any retail outlets that anyone knows of that are designed to keep people sane, or can all we hope for is planning disasters like this one?

The really important question is why the Wrentham Outlets were so busy on a day that was essentially gorgeous? The answer is that school starts in a week or so.

I have never had a problem with the Wrentham Outlets. But I avoid them for the two weekends before school starts and the two weekends before Christmas. However I do agree that the traffic planning is atrocious.

And, in the end, the other problem is that outlets have migrated from being factory outlets where you could get a great deal to being retail outlets which basically means the prices aren't that much different between the outlets and if you catch a sale at the regular retail store. So to answer your question, just go to whatever regular store you would think of towards the end of a season and you will find some deals. A great start would have been to go to Filene's before they converted to Macy's and were essentially liquidating their retail stock. I'm not sure if they did this at PPlace?

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the outlets are always busy this time of year for the reasons brick mentioned. same goes for any weekend between thanksgiving and christmas.

i can't htink of any of these types of outlet centers that have rail access or bus access (aside from the old folks bus that takes a bus load of senior citizens shopping for a day).

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I saw the traffic Saturday, as I was jumping on 495S from 1A. I didn't hit any delays, but southbound was backed all the way off the exit ramp. Northbound was clear sailing. It was about 6p so I thought it was Patriots traffic mixed with the miles of jersey barrier they threw on 495 South mixed with school shopping. But if you had it that bad yesterday, I guess the Patriots weren't the problem.

As an aside, what exactly are they doing on 495 South that warrants miles of lane closures when I never see any work or equipment..? 495 is supposed to be a ring road and I get stuck taking 95/128 when I need to head back from NH.

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As an aside, what exactly are they doing on 495 South that warrants miles of lane closures when I never see any work or equipment..? 495 is supposed to be a ring road and I get stuck taking 95/128 when I need to head back from NH.

Getting ready to resurface I beleive. That's another problem, they have the southbound on ramp from 1A with a stop sign right now instead of a yield or merge.

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it's been like that for weeks but i've never seen any actual construction vehicles.

All summer as far as I recall. A couple months at the least. When I peered over from the northbound side, it looked like they switched the lanes that were blocked off, too. It used to be the two left-most lanes, and Saturday those lanes were open I think, but no work had been done from what I could tell. Very strange.

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This company is building a similar outlet center (though smaller I think) in Merrimack, NH just south of Manchester and I'm dreading the thought of all the new traffic.

that company has a lot of nice outlet centers, including the one in clinton, CT and woodbury, NY (which is HUGE).

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  • 1 month later...

We hit up Wrentham this past weekend as they hve instituted a dress code at my job and I didnt own anything that looked "professional". It was just horrible. After waitinf forever to get into the lot there were no spaces anywhere. We drove around for a while and then slowly followed someone walking out to their car. Parking is completely insufficient. They really need to build a garage. The access in and out is terrible as well. Given the number of cars trying to get through, Rt1 needs a couple additional lanes from Rt 495 to the outlets. Awful.

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We hit up Wrentham this past weekend as they hve instituted a dress code at my job and I didnt own anything that looked "professional". It was just horrible. After waitinf forever to get into the lot there were no spaces anywhere. We drove around for a while and then slowly followed someone walking out to their car. Parking is completely insufficient. They really need to build a garage. The access in and out is terrible as well. Given the number of cars trying to get through, Rt1 needs a couple additional lanes from Rt 495 to the outlets. Awful.

that exit/on ramp is a big cluster f*** with the construction. i was there a few weeks ago and it was awful. what the hell is taking so long with the construction there?

1A does need to be revamped for that. it gets a ton of traffic and it all has to feed into that one small entrance. they need 2 entrances to the outlet center i think, maybe even a direct highway exit.

and a garage there wouldn't hurt either.

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I've never been to Wrentham but I've had the same problems at Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall in Elizabeth, NJ. The mall is within eyesight of Manhattan and is in one of the most transit-dependent communities in the country, yet driving there is still absolute hell and the parking lots are warzones!

What may be worse yet is the IKEA "across the street" (a.k.a. 1/2 mile away). I've never seen more minivans and SUVs gathered in one spot. And with full busloads of Manhattanites pouring in every 30 minutes the inside of the store is chaos on any given weekend afternoon.

I'm in need of new work clothes too and am considering a trek up to Woodbury Common in Orange County, NY. After reading all of these posts and thinking it over some more I may reconsider.

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I've never been to Wrentham but I've had the same problems at Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall in Elizabeth, NJ. The mall is within eyesight of Manhattan and is in one of the most transit-dependent communities in the country, yet driving there is still absolute hell and the parking lots are warzones!

What may be worse yet is the IKEA "across the street" (a.k.a. 1/2 mile away). I've never seen more minivans and SUVs gathered in one spot. And with full busloads of Manhattanites pouring in every 30 minutes the inside of the store is chaos on any given weekend afternoon.

I'm in need of new work clothes too and am considering a trek up to Woodbury Common in Orange County, NY. After reading all of these posts and thinking it over some more I may reconsider.

i've been to woodbury commons. it's not as bad for some reason, although i haven't been there in a while. the whole place is setup much differently and i think it has multiple entrances and parking lots.

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I was completely disappointed this weekend with the amount of mall "traffic" everywhere. It was probably the last weekend where you will get 70 degree+ and sunny weather, yet when I walked by the PPlace mall it was packed to the gills. Sounds like Wrentham was overpopulated, too. Meanwhile, I went for a bike ride around Blackstone Blvd. and there were relatively few people in Lippitt Park or on the boulevard. I went for abike ride on the Cranston-W.Warwick-Coventry bike path on Saturday and I saw literally a half dozen other people on the path for my entire ride, which covered 24 miles from 2-3:30 PM. That's pretty pathetic. the only positive was what looked like a youth group doing improvments to a park that abuts the path in Cranston near Oaklawn Ave. (there were a few dozen strong so I don't count them among my half dozen)

Hey, I love boosts to the economy but seriously, can't people get out and do anything or is shopping on the weekend the only thing that keeps people going?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

I found a place worse than Wrentham this weekend, IKEA Way in Stoughton. For those from RI, it's Route 2 or Route 6 on steroids. There are sidewalks, though, in case you wanted to risk your life walking from box to box...

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Yeah, the Ikea area is pretty darn bad. I've made one trip there to get a bathroom sink, and I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. The best part of that whole excursion was coming back to Providence on the "back roads", i.e. through Taunton, which was a surprise in that it's a much nicer town than I'd been led to expect.

The Wrentham malls? As somebody said upthread, you can do as well at a non-outlet store pretty much, if you know what you're looking for and the timing is right. I doubt I'll ever darken their doorstep(s) again.

But then, I've become an anti-consumer -- gimme the Zho-Blo, Building 19 on a good day, or Bob's when they're having a clear-out, and I'm all set.

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Yeah, the Ikea area is pretty darn bad. I've made one trip there to get a bathroom sink, and I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. The best part of that whole excursion was coming back to Providence on the "back roads", i.e. through Taunton, which was a surprise in that it's a much nicer town than I'd been led to expect.

The Wrentham malls? As somebody said upthread, you can do as well at a non-outlet store pretty much, if you know what you're looking for and the timing is right. I doubt I'll ever darken their doorstep(s) again.

But then, I've become an anti-consumer -- gimme the Zho-Blo, Building 19 on a good day, or Bob's when they're having a clear-out, and I'm all set.

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the brooks brother's outlet actually has a lot of pretty good deals compared to their regular store (such as that in the providence place mall), especially ties, which are like $35 in the outlet and closer to $50 in the mall.
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