Junction One or The Outlet - Which is bigger and better?

JMU-95

Junction One or The Outlet - Which is bigger and better? Any nice restaurants nearby any of these two you would recommend. :beer:

Cazo1

Good stores in both places and there is a great restaurant right beside Junction one called Table Table...great food & terrific service!:beer:

deserts4

Upto 12 months my vote was junction one but think the outlet has overtaken it. Harry's bar/Gowdy's in the centre of Banbridge excellent for food

freddie_2

Junction one if you have children, free play park and pay for soft play centre. Nothing for them in outlet.

Outlet seems to also act like a wind tunnel, it always windy and so cold!

Shops much the same in both. I prefer Junction one.

Snoozle

freddie wrote: »

Outlet seems to also act like a wind tunnel, it always windy and so cold!

.

:rotfl:Junction One is like that too - is it something about the design of these places?

But I would vote for Junction One, I think it has more shops and there are a couple of decent coffee shops too.

carlamagee

am shocked by other ppls posts. i was about to come on and vote ofr the outlet. even though i have neer actually been, i think junction one is abysmal. i guess ill not be visiting the outlet anytime soon...

SnowyOwl_2

Carla - just out of interest, what is it that disappointed you about Junction One? Was it the range of shops, the lack of discount on stuff you wanted, the "ambiance"....or something else? Thanks.

caz2703

Junction One was good when it opened but having been there recently I found it was some what lacking. Now I may be biased due to visiting some fantastic outlet malls in Orlando (Premium and Prime Outlets on International Drive) where the shopping, ambience and prices are to die for but I still gave J1 a by ball. Last time I was up a couple of months ago there were so few shops I'd actually go in to. Kitch 'N' Sync is good for - you've guessed it - kitchen stuff, Next seems useless and I'd rather hold on to my money for their big sales, Starbucks does a lovely cuppa and Bose sell some great speakers if I could ever afford them. Apart from that there very little to choose from. Ralph Lauren has closed which was one shop I could spend some time browsing in and the other shops seem to be a mix of cheap tat, sports wear or food orientated.

spendaholiceejit

I've been to both recently, and would go back to either of them, but I much preferred the Outlet. I was shopping for the children really and got more for them there.

Still, I would never write off Junction One as sometimes it is great. I suppose the thing about Outlet shopping is that you can never guarantee what you'll get there at any given time.

Snoozle

carlamagee wrote: »

am shocked by other ppls posts. i was about to come on and vote ofr the outlet. even though i have neer actually been, i think junction one is abysmal. i guess ill not be visiting the outlet anytime soon...

To be honest, I don't go for the quality of the shops, they are mostly rubbish, but its got free car parking and is a much more convenient place to meet a friend for coffee than trekking into Ballymena or Belfast, or any other reasonably busy town.

I have only been to the Outlet a couple of times, and I suppose I should have clarified that in my last post, because it might have changed since I was last there.

There are a few decent shops at Junction One though, Dekko, the sports shops are decent if you need exercise gear, Kitchen Sync, GAP and M&S are ok, and the Paper Shop is good if you are into crafts and cardmaking etc (not everyone's cup of tea, obviously!). But as for Next, I think I would rather pull my own teeth out than try to shop in there, and that goes for the Next sale in general, I hate it with a passion. The one upside of the Next shop at J1 is that if you need to return items to the Next directory, you can do it at the shop, and again its the free parking outside the door that makes this a winner for me.

coffeel0ver

I've been to both outlets over Easter and definately prefer The Outlet. Perhaps it's more suited for my age-group? I'm in my early 20's.

Junction one is good for suits & have good reductions in Next (especially if you aren't tied to buying clothes for a certain season). But other than that, I found the lack of nice, good quality clothes a bit dissappointing. To me, the place feels a bit 'sparse' or something. I liked their paper shop and the fact that they have a Dekko Store. They do seem to be really good for people with children also.

Why is the Outlet better? I find the range of shops better and nicely laid out also. They have more high-street shops (such as Oasis, Gap & Fat Face). I got gorgeous jeans in the Gap when I was up the other week, reduced to £6 something. Very good.
The only down-side is the fact that last time I was there I got my foot run over by an electric wheelchair and ended up in A&E haha. Not their fault though; it was a care worker!!