#1: The Union Station
Unless you’re renting a car, going to Aurora means going to the Union Station to board the train. If you saw “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, the chase part was filmed here. The big, cavernous hall just looks awesome.
…except if you missed the train which leaves right on time. The next train should be leaving in 2 hours which gives you time to watch “My Best Friend’s Wedding” off your iPod.
#2 The BNSF train
It stands for “Burlington Northern Santa Fe” but we call it the “Aurora” train. I have no idea why it’s called Burlington Northern Sante Fe because it doesn’t stop at Burlington, Illinois and there’s no town called Santa Fe here. Travel time is 1 hour 20 minutes and it gives you time to relax and revisit your shopping list.
…except if you’re sharing cars with noisy children or smelly people… or both.
#3 The Mall Layout
For some reason, other outlet malls were built like a skewed “X” (Kenosha) or an “S” (Gurnee Mills Mall) which means there’s a lot of walking back and forth. Aurora is shaped like an “O” which means it’s easy to return to shops you skipped earlier (especially if you’re the type of shopper who compares prices from different stores first before buying anything). It also means you can go around the mall a second time if time permits.
…except that more access to shops means that that ugly, expensive shirt you saw earlier now looks nice and cheap. You end up with more purchases than intended.
#4 Nike
Remember those days when you traced your foot on a piece of paper and send that to your relatives in the US? Yep, that practice is still alive only this time they scan it, post it on Facebook then tag you. Nike is an ultimate pasalubong place if you’re patient enough to browse through all their goods.
…except some of the shirts are made in the Philippines which bears the question, what’s the point?
#5 The Food Court
They have 5 restaurants in the food court: Ranch 1 which is a poor man’s Chick-Fil-A, Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen which is a poor man’s Sbarro, Asian Chao which is a poor man’s Panda Express, Maki of Japan which is a poor man’s Asian Chao and Great Steak which is a poor man’s Quizno’s.
…except you won’t really mind the taste when hunger strikes in the middle of your shopping trip.
#6 Vendo Machines
They have lots of vending machines for drinks and snacks. They have some on each corner of the mall and some hidden ones behind unmarked doors and none of them are overpriced. They also have credit card readers so you can use your credit cards when purchasing these drinks.
…except when the machine asks you to swipe your card five times then displays a cryptic error message making you wonder if the machine placed a hundred dollars on your card for a Pepsi it did not dispense.
#7 Lacoste
If you REALLY want a Lacoste shirt, this is where you buy one. It’s not available in other stores and the Lacoste store in Michigan Ave has virtually no discount whatsoever.
…except when you examine the stuff they have, you have to admit that whoever supplies those stuff at Greenhills did a great job copying these. It’s hard to tell the difference between the fake one and the real one without checking out the tag. Maybe you can just buy the crocodile logo and staple them on your shirts.
#8 Izod / Van Heusen
These stores stack two to three discounts on top of each other, which can really bring down the price (a collared shirt for ~ 5 to 12 dollars). Their shirts are of excellent quality and you can’t have enough of these especially if you wear them to the office.
…except if you suck at math. They may have a 60 dollar shirt that has a 70% discount stacked with a 20% discount and an additional 10% discount. That’s 60 dollars down to 18 dollars down to 14.40 dollars down to 12.96 dollars. Computing all these puts a huge stress on my brain and if you spend too much time in the store, you end up computing everything else. On the way home, I found out that bus 533 discounted is actually bus 373.1.
#9 Aeropostale
You gotta love Aero since it’s a store where you can buy those “pamparami” shirts and pasalubongs. Clothes are decent, the styles are hip and their prices are the lowest among all clothing stores in the mall.
…except if you hate crowds and long lines. Aero has great stock but they’re all over the place. The store is always packed and so be prepared to shop Greenhills style.
#10 The 533 Molitor Bus
This is the bus that takes you from the mall to the train station. It arrives on time and leaves within a minute. It’s probably the place where you get to talk to everyone else on your shopping group for the first time since you arrived.
…except, it has a shorter window which means if you’re late then you need to start improvising on how to make it to the train station on time. It’s like a stressful episode of the Amazing Race.
Worth noting:
Oakley, has a 10% chance every holiday weekend of having a sale on good sunglasses. Yes I checked, none of them is labeled “Oakey” (without the "L")
Starbucks, the only place that has free wi-fi. Oh, and they have coffee too.
BCBGMaxazria, the shop would have been nice if I could pronounce its name.
Coach, it’s amazing how long the line is just to enter this shop.
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