Woodbury Common Premium Outlets – A Shopping Paradise Near New York City

It was 7am on a Thursday morning and I woke up to the pleasant sound of my phone alarm. I looked out of the window and saw raindrops splashing on the window pane. But the rainy New York weather did not dampen my mood at all. Still feeling excited, I sprung out of bed to start washing up. No, nothing could dampen my mood today, because I was going on a FULL DAY shopping trip to Woodbury Common Premium Outlets! This article was last updated on 06 May 2020.

Table of Contents

• What is Woodbury Common Premium Outlets?
• Getting to Woodbury Commons
• Shopping Strategy
• Many Food Options
• Free WiFi
• Shopping For Guys and Children Too
• Great Weather and Awesome Scenery
• Tips for Conquering Woodbury Commons
• Is Woodbury Commons Worth Going?

What is Woodbury Common Premium Outlets?

Woodbury Common Premium Outlets is a famous outlet mall near New York City with over 200 stores. It is commonly referred to as “Woodbury Commons”.

The brands here include Coach, Bally, Calvin Klein, Prada, DKNY, Saint Laurent, Nike, Under Armour, Gucci, Versace, and many more. You can check out this complete list of Woodbury Commons stores.

According to their website, the mall offers incredible discounts of up to 65% every single day!

Woodbury Commons is just a one-hour bus ride from New York City. I love this shopping paradise so much that I have been here three times before!

Getting to Woodbury Commons

There are several methods for getting to Woodbury Commons, but I found out that taking the ShortLine (operated by Coach USA) coach service was the best way because it had a Groupon deal for Woodbury Commons round-trip tickets at just USD25. Update (May 2020): the price is now USD27.

I immediately bought this deal. If I had bought the tickets directly from the official Woodbury Commons site, it would have cost USD42.

Therefore, I got a hefty 40% saving with this Groupon deal, which made it even more worthwhile to travel to Woodbury Commons!

I took the ShortLine coach for all my three visits here and the rides were always smooth and efficient.

My bus to Woodbury Commons departed from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.

On day of my trip, I walked to the terminal from my hotel and proceeded to the Shortline counter on level two.

To redeem my ticket, I just showed the staff my mobile Groupon voucher. The staff printed my ticket and I quickly proceeded to the bus berth.

The scheduled bus departure time was 8.30am, but surprisingly we were told to board at 8.15am.

I had brought along TWO empty luggage to store my shopping loot, which were kept the bottom of the bus.

The coach seats were decently comfy. I took the seats by the emergency exit as they were slightly more spacious than the rest.

The bus left earlier than scheduled at 8.20am, and I arrived at Woodbury Commons at about 9.30am.

This was the perfect time to reach because the shops had just opened and the crowds were not here yet.

Shopping Strategy

Based on experience from the previous two visits, I knew I had to have an indomitable shopping strategy in order to complete my shopping within one day.

Click on the map to enlarge

Click on the map to enlarge

Therefore, upon arrival, Evan collected our luggage while I quickly went to queue at the visitor center to collect the free map of Woodbury Commons – you can click on the pictures above to download them, or you can refer to the Woodbury Commons website for the latest map.

I redeemed the discount coupon book as well, which came with our Shortline bus tickets. I am not sure if other bus operators offer this perk too.

First, we marked out the locations of our shortlisted shops on the map. Woodbury Commons is separated into five large zones with different colours on the map.

Then, based on the density of my preferred stores, I ranked the zones based on priority. In our case, we combed Woodbury Commons via the brown zone first, followed by blue, orange, green, and red.

I set a time frame for each zone in order not to overrun. I used some of the discount coupons to get further discounts on top of the in-store discounts.

We brought along two pieces of wheeled luggage so that we could store my shopping loot. I definitely did not want to be walking around carrying loads of heavy shopping bags in my hands!

Don’t worry if you did not bring along a luggage because there are luggage on sale in the mall too.

Many Food Options

Within Woodbury Commons, there are many bistros, food trucks and a large “Market Hall” with dozens of food stores.

You can take a quick break at these eateries before letting your wallet bleed further.

Free WiFi

We found out that the Market Hall offers free wifi and cell-phone charging stations. This was very useful because we spent one full day here. Almost all the shops have free wifi too.

Shopping For Guys and Children Too

There are lots of stuff at the mall for guys and children too. Evan was especially impressed by the huge Nike outlet, where we found plenty of Nike products being sold at great discounts.

Great Weather and Awesome Scenery

Woodbury Commons is located in Central Valley (New York), adjacent to Harriman State Park. Therefore, it is literally surrounded by beautiful mountains with lush green foliage. It was quite a surreal experience to shop amidst such a setting.

We visited the mall during the months of December and April, and the weather was very cool and comfortable.

Therefore, I had a really awesome shopping experience, especially when compared to shopping in Singapore where you can perspire profusely after walking just 5 minutes along Orchard Road.

Tips for Conquering Woodbury Commons

• Check Groupon for any discount on bus tickets to Woodbury Commons
• Take an early bus to beat the crowd. The 8.30am bus departing Port Authority in Manhattan would be ideal.
• Bring along a luggage so that you can keep your loot in the luggage instead of carrying too many bags
• Flag out the shops / brands that you are most interested in, set a time limit for each zone
• Check the discount coupon book to see if there are further discounts on top of the in-store discounts. Use your Shortline bus ticket to redeem the coupon book.
• Be decisive, buy it if you like it! Time is running out! You still need to visit other shops!
• If you are visiting during the cold months (Winter, early Spring, etc), make sure you wear more layers because you will be walking frequently in the open.
• If you’re catching the last bus, do remember to be at the queue about 20 to 30 minutes earlier because there is usually a long queue. You don’t want to risk missing the last bus back to New York City.

Is Woodbury Commons Worth Going?

YES! What I love about Woodbury Common Premium Outlets is the convenience of shopping at a place where lots of brands are located literally next to each other. In addition, items are a lot cheaper than the prices you pay at usual retail stores. Many shops offer massive discounts: Coach usually gives 50% off for all items (more on special occasions such as Christmas and New Year), Kate Spade has 50% off plus another 30%, etc. I will definitely be back!

This article is part of our completely free and fantastic Ultimate New York Travel Guide for First Timers. Why spend days researching when all your holiday information is simply a click away?