USA Shopping List : HELP!

[vgb]

hubbers - i am going to the USA for a few weeks holiday - what should i be putting on my shopping list? Upgrades and cool kit for the bike (Specialized Epic 29er) are obvious priority and then electronics for the lounge, then cool stuff for the kids and then the odd thing for the Mrs?

 

Ideas pleas gents.....

[Paul Ruinaard]

Where in USA?

 

Go to the outlet malls near where you are staying. But be disciplined cause you will hit tilt, and have to buy more suitcases to bring it all back. I travel to USA often and I do all the bicycle shopping online at jensonusa and amazon and get them to deliver to the hotel.

[No Hare]

when you are there and perhaps, run into Obama, ask him to come over here and help out for a week or two.

[Disylizzy]

Cycling clothing, helmets, electronics are all much cheaper.

 

If you have the address of where you're staying, check out www.performancebike.com, they have stores and you can order online.

 

I've found that parts, lights, wheels, and some other accessories are about the same there as it is here.

 

Where in the States are you going?

 

 

EDIT: And since it's winter there, do yourself a favor and get a proper winter jacket that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!

 

For general electronics/gadgets go to a Best Buy www.bestbuy.com and prepare to get your mind blown!

Edited December 6, 2012 by Disylizzy

[ricochet_rabbit]

go pro 3 ?

[vgb]

Thanks for the advice! Am going to Orlando, Washington DC and New York City.

[Pusher]

when you are there and perhaps, run into Obama, ask him to come over here and help out for a week or two.

+1

[shaper]

Where in USA?

 

Go to the outlet malls near where you are staying. But be disciplined cause you will hit tilt, and have to buy more suitcases to bring it all back. I travel to USA often and I do all the bicycle shopping online at jensonusa and amazon and get them to deliver to the hotel.

 

+1 for jensonusa, good prices

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Thanks for the advice! Am going to Orlando, Washington DC and New York City.

 

Orlando is only good for bargain clothes especially T shirts - and I mean cheap, 5 for $10.00 is common. No doubt you will go to Disney or Universal so just close by there are two massive fashion malls, and they discount anything, I picked up three pairs of Asics running shoes there for $90.00 bucks in June, here you pay that for one. All the buses go there, just stand at any bus point and ask the driver, its HUGE and a major tourist attraction. There are also a lot of big malls, my personal favorite been the SEARS mall, and the "Best Buy" in Orlando is monumental, but ideally you need to hire a car, not only for all the parcels, but Orlando is massive and very spread out, driving is simple, get a map and have fun.

 

EDIT - If you have time and a car, take a drive out to the Lakeridge Winery, its roughly two easy hours out of Orlando, they do free wine tours and tastings and the most amazing Cheese lunch. Buy a few bottles of the Lakeridge Rose' its fantastic and less than 5 bucks a bottle, eat lunch in the vineyards or on weekends (probably all the time now) they have music and live entertainment at the cellar - I have been on hundreds of wine tours, but this one is by far the best - by MILES.!

 

Washington and New York are the places to look for electronic bargains, at this time of year all the major dept. stalls are discounting like crazy. A sale in the USA is a sale, believe me, unlike here where they knock off 10 rand and call it a bargain, there two for the price of one is common. In New York B&H Photo is a must, its just crazy there, tell em I sent you, they almost know me by name.

 

Go down to the Grand Central station area in NY and look around for the "Strawberry" branded shops, there's two or three, they sell big brands clothes and shoes that are out of season at ridiculous prices, dont let your wife in there without you having a firm grip of your credit card, I made that mistake once, it was scary.!

 

.........but dont spend all day shopping, go to grand central and have lunch in the station at one of the restaurants, I like the oyster bar but there's a few, its expensive but its absolutely fantastic. Go to a few nightspots, there's literally hundreds, walk around Central park, maybe it snows, beautiful, grab some roasted chestnuts from a street seller, there's nothing nicer, join the line at times square and get discounted tickets for Broadway, all the major shows are discounted by up to 50%.

 

........Aaah man, I love the USA.

Edited December 6, 2012 by GrumpyOldGuy

[Jigghead]

Ordered my GoPro Hero 3 Black yesterday. Will be delivered to a mate in the USA and he will bring it home for me before Christmas.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Ordered my GoPro Hero 3 Black yesterday. Will be delivered to a mate in the USA and he will bring it home for me before Christmas.

 

I saw it, $399.00 I think.? Although now I recon you will get a discount at the stores, Best Buy, Sears, all of them will be selling cheap.

[V12man]

Make sure you buy electronics that can use 220-240 volt power - US standard is 110...

[Disylizzy]

I saw it, $399.00 I think.? Although now I recon you will get a discount at the stores, Best Buy, Sears, all of them will be selling cheap.

 

If it's a brand new item, it won't go on sale until march/april (EDIT: at the earliest). And for some reason all the stores honor that!

Edited December 6, 2012 by Disylizzy

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Make sure you buy electronics that can use 220-240 volt power - US standard is 110...

 

Yeah, very important, although most times I find today the device can accept both. Another point is to remember the US still uses Imperial, so if you buy something that uses algorithm's it may be in Imperial, need to be sure it can also work in Metric.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

If it's a brand new item, it won't go on sale until march/april (EDIT: at the earliest). And for some reason all the stores honor that!

 

In principle maybe, but most of the stores offer in house discounts, I am on a few mailing lists and Sawgrass Mills is offering a discount for any store in their malls, bring your till slip and get a % off back in a cash voucher, the higher the till slip the bigger the cash back voucher. Sears is also offering an in house discount for December, cash back voucher at the tills.

 

Not difficult to get around, but in principle you are right.

Edited December 6, 2012 by GrumpyOldGuy

[Disylizzy]

In principle maybe, but most of the stores offer in house discounts, I am on a few mailing lists and Sawgrass Mills is offering a discount for any store in their malls, bring your till slip and get a % off back in cash, the higher the till slip the bigger the cash back. Sears is also offering an in house discount for December, cash back voucher at the tills.

 

Not difficult to get around, but in principle you are right.

 

The only thing to watch out for with those cashbacks, is that they are vouchers for the same stores. And... they're cashback vouchers for January... Good for if you live there, not good for if you're on holiday.

 

One other thing to note though is that if you see something advertised online or in print for cheaper than at another big box store, you can take that to them and ask them to match or better the deal.