By CISL San Diego student, Nicolas Sayo (France)
If you are a shopping addict or if you just like shopping, San Diego is the ideal place. There are clothes for everybody : fashionistas, bargain hunters, sportsmen, etc…
San Ysidro, 40 minutes south of San Diego by trolley, is my favorite shopping destination. San Ysidro, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico, is a great place to shop with many factory outlet stores where you can buy casual clothes in many different fashions. The big Nike shop is a good place to start, and afterwards you can try your luck at the Aeropostale store (I bought a tee-shirt and a polo for only 39 dollars!), or the Vans store (2 tee-shirts for 15 dollars). There are other interesting shops like Tommy Hilfinger, The Gap, and the Cap New Era store. There are also lots of promotions such as “buy one product and then get 50% off of the second.” So San Ysidro is very attractive destination for people who like good clothes with low prices!
Another excellent shopping destination is the Fashion Valley Mall, a more upscale place for the shopping addict, featuring many famous designer boutiques. The prices are more expensive than San Ysidro, but less expensive than in Europe. Fashion Valley is easy to get to by trolley from downtown (20 minutes). Fashion Valley Mall is very big! Here you can find many chic labels such as Hoolister and Abercrombie & Fitch, as well as electronics brands like Sony and Apple, where you can try out many products and receive advise from the sales staff. So if you go to the United States looking to buy the latest fashion collections and brands, San Diego is the place to go!