Cascade Factory Outlet

Jalan L.R.E. Martadinata (also known Jalan Riau, as the street was formerly called) is the street where many boutiques, garment, shoe, and bag shops and factory outlets are located.

Pictured here is Cascade Factory located on Jalan L.R.E. Martadinata number 65.

Factory outlet, which used to be known as "sisa export" (literally: export overstock/overrun/reject) shops, by the way, is a kind of shop that sells overruns and second on export garments at bargain prices. At a shop like this, it not surprising to find branded clothing items sold at one tenth of the tag prices that you would normally find at the authorized branded stores.

The variety of branded items sold at many of the stores include: Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Alfred Dunhill, Ann Taylor, Armani, Banana Republic, Future.now, Eddie Bauer, MAG, Nautica, Fendi, Elle, Hugo Boss, DKNY, Espirit, Calvin Klein, Crocodile, Balley Apostrophe, Nike, Reebok, Limited, The Gap, Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo, Puma, D&G, BCBG, J. Crew, Allure, Bennetton, Cerruti 1881, Victoria's Secret, NY & Company, Sag Harbor, Old Navy, Ocean Pacific, Roxy, Hush Puppy, Table Eight, Cherokee, Express, Karen Scott and Sears and Mervyn's brands, and Versache.

When shopping at a store like this, you should remember that there are different grades of items offered. The best quality overruns are designated as Grade A. Next in line are items with minor (and I'd say negligible) defects so they didn't pass quality inspection by the buyer. This kind of items are designated as grade B. There are also items that are classified as factory rejects. Subject to trading agreements between factories and buyers and factory outlets, many items sold here are also items put up for sale three to six months after they go on the market for full price elsewhere.

Night Butterflies

Still from the same place I wrote about in yesterday's post ... Here, the butterflies don't only fly during the day, but also at night. And yes, I do think they look more beautiful at night.

Paris Van Java

During the early twentieth century colonial era, Bandung was known as "Parijs van Java" or the Paris of Java. The nick name was probably given because of the city's European atmosphere. Nobody, however, knows exactly when that nick name was first used or who gave it, but an excursion guide book for the Priangan area (where Bandung is located) published in 1906 had already used the name. Many things have of course changed since then. While the city still has some European heritage, the European feel has since then been replaced by more local colors. The name, however, is still frequently invoked to bring back the memory of the good old days when the city was a beautiful high land resort town of less than 200,000 population.

As part of the efforts to bring the good old days back to life, a resort lifestyle market place was built and completed in July 2006. The place is appropriately called Paris Van Java or PVJ as it is locally known. Located in Sukajadi area in the north of the city, this lifestyle mall occupies an area of nearly 5,000 square meters. It has four floors, green walk gardens and more than 200 European-styled shops and cafes serving a great variety of delicious international and local cuisines, including a huge cineplex, a book store, an open-air stage, and a couple of international-chain supermarkets.



The photos I am posting today are a glimpse of the place that many consider as an oasis in this busy and crowded city. The top photo is the gate to this open-air resort lifestyle place. The second and third photos are some corners of the place. I will try to post more photos of this place at some later occasions.

Bandung: City of Shoppers #1

Ask any visitors of their reasons for visiting Bandung, and chances are that shopping and eating are high on their list. Bandung is indeed considered by many as a top shopping and culinary destination in Indonesia and even in Southeast Asia. To local visitors at least, Bandung is well known for its many fashion distros (distribution outlets), FOs (factory outlets), cozy cafes and restos.

Distros and FOs are a kind of shop that sells fashion and apparel products directly from factories. This marketing model that cuts short the distribution chain (and hence significantly reduces the prices of commodities) began to emerge in the early 1990s. Now you can find them in many parts of the city, with those on Jalan Dago (Dago Street), Jalan Riau (LRE Martadinata), Jalan Cihampelas, and Jalan Dr. Setiabudhi being the most popular.

Bandung shopping experience, however, does not stop with distros and FOs. In fact, they may be just the beginning of it. For those of you who like high-end, branded merchandize, Bandung also has a large number of internationally branded chain shops to choose from. Or, if you are the kind of person who enjoys adventure and does not mind haggling/bargaining, the various specialized traditional markets and the streets are the way to go. Not only do these markets offer the same range of merchandizes you can find at distros and high end branded chain shops, they also offer them for much much less.

I took the above photo of colorful t-shirts and blouses at King's Shopping Center on Jalan Kepatihan (Kepatihan Street). And how much do they cost? At the current rate, they cost US$5 or less. Very cheap indeed for well-made and beautifully designed blouses like those.