I have received a number of questions about “outlet” shops.  A number of years ago, when my children were in college, my wife led me on a trip to The Woodbury Commons outlet mall in NY.  The parking lot was huge.  The lot was so packed that one had to drive around waiting for someone to pull out of a parking space to park.  There were tour buses disgourging shoppers.  Scurrying around the lot- I don’t know if the lot could acommodate 1,500 cars, maybe a lot more - were people passing out maps showing the route to different shops.  On the back of the map was a list of the other locations where the mall owner had other malls They had them in many other states.  And this was just this company.  I have no idea how many outlet malls exist in the country. I know that when ever I drive anywhere I see outlet malls.  What surprises me is that there are so many people who think these outlet stores are cram full of first run merchandise at discount prices.   One of the stores we went into had a man’s suit on a form. A sign attached to the suit said,” Compare to $850″. What does that mean? I couldn’t resist. I asked to see the manager.  I told him he was missing the boat. I suggested he replace the sign with one that said,” Compare to the National Debt”.