Big-Name Bargain Hunting at Discount Outlets

Dallas is a big spender’s town where fabulous fortunes buy a faddish and fanciful life style, filled with fast cars, fancy clothes, magnificent mansions and jewels that jar the imagination with their opulence.

Lately, Dallasites have been pulling in their diamond-studded belt buckles a bit. Not all of their shopping is done at Neiman-Marcus and other exclusive stores. It’s not uncommon to see a Rolls or Mercedes parked outside top apparel discounters. Bargain hunting is in, and there are plenty of bargains to be had.

Dallas has several discount outlets for merchandise bearing designer tags and brand names. The city is a key merchandise mart for the Southwest. Show-and-sell activity centers around developer Trammel Crow’s complex of trade centers, which are conveniently near the Loews Anatole Hotel.

The complex, made up of the World Trade Center and Market Hall (for home furnishings, accessories, gift items and some fashion) and the Apparel Mart and Menswear Mart (for fashion), houses showrooms for leading manufacturers.

Shopping Safari Tours

For the most part, showrooms are open only to the apparel trade. But a tour company called Shopping Safari arranges for tourists or conventioneers to visit selected showrooms at the trade complex and/or dozens of discount retailers (showrooms that don’t sell directly to retail customers but often make samples available through their own shops or other discount outlets) throughout the city.

Discounted prices on most merchandise in discount shops are exceptionally reasonable; some of the tags are astonishingly low.

Shopping Safari guests are picked up at their hotels in a limousine, van or bus and guided to showrooms and/or shops that satisfy their shopping interests. Groups range from four to dozens, with price per person depending on the number in the group and the itinerary they’ve selected.

For a brochure, costs and/or bookings, call Diane Simons at (214) 528-2569 or write to Shopping Safari, 3219 Lee St., Dallas, Tex. 75205.

Guide Updated Monthly

Of course, anyone with a Dallas map and a rental car may visit the discount shops on their own. “The Outlet & Discount Guide,” published monthly by Hidden Values (Suite 401, 5307 E. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Tex. 75206), has advertisements (many with photos and merchandise descriptions) for about 100 discounters, with a wide variety of wearables and home furnishings. Complimentary copies of the guide are usually given out at conventions and discount shops.

Many discount outlets are in Dallas suburbs or nearby towns. Their quantity and the distance between them makes a shopping itinerary a must. If you don’t call on the services of Shopping Safari, select a limited number of shops to visit (call ahead to see if they have what you’re looking for) and ask your hotel concierge to help you map an itinerary that will allow you to make best use of your time.

If interested in women’s apparel, a particularly popular and rewarding stop is the boutique owned and run by Terry Costa, the former wife of designer Victor Costa. The shop at 1331 Inwood Road is where budget-conscious debutantes and socialites from Dallas and surrounding cities gather to buy attire for formal occasions ranging from proms to galas.

Communal Dressing Room

The shop’s display and try-on system is not very formal. Racks are filled with Victor Costa’s fabulous, fanciful and feminine evening gowns and cocktail dresses, all sold at a fraction of their regular retail prices. You can select gowns off the rack and try them on in a spacious communal dressing room with mirrors on all the walls.

The staff is personable. It is not unusual for Costa to help a customer select for some special event. Prices can’t be beat: A stunning gown trimmed with Norwegian fox fur costs $119, a chic chiffon with an ostrich boa and sequins $269. A charming floral gabardine top over a beaded bubble skirt is $120. Stock varies from week to week, but there is generally a wide range of styles and sizes.

Costa features other designer labels: a beautiful Albert Nipon silk suit in colorful floral fabric with black piping costs $169, a versatile black silk dress by Argenti is $75, Swee Lo’s beaded fantasy gowns are $269 and two-piece beaded silk extravaganzas $279.

Toward the front of the store Costa features comfortable cotton mix-and-match casuals, linen separates for day wear and washable silks that travel beautifully. A selection of linen separates in bright purple, shocking pink, sunny yellow and glowing orange are appealing. Tops are $38, skirts or trousers $48.

Casual and Dressy

Next door, At Cost Warehouse (1333 Inwood Road) is well-stocked with casual and dressy outfits by several manufacturers. Joanie Char separates of cotton jersey have loosely draped tops ($64) and dropped-waist skirts ($54). Tobia’s two-piece cotton knit separates in navy and white ($50 a set) are versatile, and floral chintz sundresses ($41) are charming. Fun and flouncy denim skirts ($45) can be worn for a fashionable Western look.

Name-label shoes to match any outfit can be bought for cut-rate prices at Vantage Shoe Warehouse (2222 Vantage St. and eight other locations). Here you’ll find Bally pumps for $59, Yves Saint Laurent gold leather flats for $30, Anne Klein leather and suede loafers for $80, white horsehair boots from Spain for $40 and high-heeled black boots with silver metal tips for $49. Bruno Magli and Charles Jourdan shoes sell for similar prices. There are also great buys in handbags and belts.

Just Justin (1505 Wycliff) sells calf and exotic leather cowboy boots for 40% to 70% off retail prices. You have more than 20,000 pairs of boots ($30 to $400) to choose from.

The Wholesale Jewelry Showroom (1461 Wycliff and also at the Grand Kempenski Hotel) offers more than 4,000 different pieces of costume jewelry, watches, hair ornaments and belts. Styles range from conservative to outrageous, and materials include wood, feathers and other natural elements, base metals and silver. Prices are indicated with colored dots ranging from silver ($2) to white ($12). Silver earrings cost $6 to $9 a pair, snakeskin bangles are $5, watches with Texas map faces $4.

Discount Outlets

Jewelry, clothes, shoes, luggage, home furnishings and gift items are discounted at Horchow’s Outlets (Inwood Road just west of Dallas Parkway and other locations), at which the famous catalogue house sells its returned or remaindered merchandise.

Some Dallasites stop at these shops weekly to spot special bargains, including beautiful silk ties ($9), leather pouch purses ($53), snakeskin handbags ($58), Belle France dresses ($89), Anne Hall silk separates ($96 a set), Golo patent leather loafers ($20), five-piece Pierre Cardin luggage sets ($249), garnet bracelets ($11), American eagle welcome mats ($15), tapestry and leather-trim golf-club covers ($24) and other items.

Marglo’s (13396 Preston Road), with a similarly broad range of merchandise, offers 45% to 75% off retail prices for home accessories, lamps, pictures and gold and diamond jewelry. Much is Oriental: Pretty rosewood trivets are $8, huge silver earrings $23, plastic Art Deco sculptures are $85, gigantic brass giraffes $499 and three-piece cloisonne vase and bowl sets $85. The quantity and quality of merchandise makes this shop a designer’s dream.