Foreign T-Shirt Shoppers Make Annual Treks

Monday 21st of February 2011 03:55:47 PM

Foreign T-Shirt Shoppers Make Annual Treks

The Irish don’t always stay home to shop. There is a little known annual shopper’s trek from Ireland to New Jersey and New York that takes place. It’s not generally known except to the retailers that profit from this annual expedition

In fact, it’s not just the Irish that fly thousands of miles to visit U.S. retailers. The retailers in these areas say their malls turn into mini United Nations because shoppers from all over Europe and Latin American visit the American malls looking for bargains. Recent visitors were from Israel, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Brazil and even Croatia. In New Jersey, the Jersey Gardens mall reports that up to 30 percent if its business is due to foreign shoppers. They shop for everything from cheap t-shirts to watches. Many of the Irish shoppers come once a year while schools are closed and they hit the outlet malls looking for bargains up to 30 percent off. With the weak U.S. dollar has come opportunity for international shoppers.

Of course, these shoppers could get the same bargains online and especially when shopping for items like polo shirts, but once a year they have fun travelling to the U.S. to find bargains of all kinds including electronics and computers. Some visitors come looking for specific items like clothing or luggage, while others come to browse as many stores as possible.

Most Irish shoppers come the last two weeks of October. That is when the Irish schools close for the holiday. And all the international visitors try to pick malls close to airports and other sights so the trip is a vacation and not just a shopping foray. The U.S. mall owners and retailers admit that, if not for the international shoppers, some of them would not be in business due to the recession. This is a win-win situation for everyone on both sides of the ocean.