I'm not a huge fan of shopping. Don't get me wrong, I like clothes. And I quite like browsing in shops. But I don't like crowds of people and the thought of going to Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon fills me with so much horror that I can't start to describe it. So when I was invited for a press trip to Bicester Village, I did have second thoughts about the idea.
I found myself on a Friday morning at Marylebone Station, surrounded by a pack of fashion journos. It would be a cliche to say they were like something out of Absolutely Fabulous but cliches are based in truth. There was plenty of air kissing, squeals of delight about people's outfits and conversations about the bespoke service on Etsy (whatever that is...). I was in a minority as a male member of the press (a rare thing in my experience) and possibly even more so as a heterosexual man.
But the reason I had been invited was to check out Rapha's lastest offering, a new archive store that has opened in Bicester Village. Other new entrants to Bicester include Paul Smith, Cowshed and Acne Studios, which turns out to be a clothing company rather than something to do with teenage spots (who knew?).
45 minutes later we arrived in Bicester Village and were driven (we definitely could have walked) to the new section of the Village to be fed champagne and nibbles (at 10.30am...we all have to make sacrifices) and be told about how excited they were to have all these new companies and how Bicester Village needed to constantly reinvent itself to keep growing.
I made my way straight to the Rapha store, which is located next to Ted Baker and Anya Hindmarch and nearly opposite Paul Smith. It is a decent sized shop and light and airy. To the right as you enter is a cafe, which is well stocked with pastries and serves Rapha's legendary coffee (which was being drunk by plenty of Bicester Village employees who were unbelievably happy to have a proper coffee shop after surviving on Pret A Manger coffee up until now).
Out to the back is a covered seating area, which would be a great place to sit after a summer ride in the Oxfordshire countryside. It has large TVs on which races were being broadcast and some cool features, including the names of some of the cycling greats painted on the ground, in the style of an Alpine climb.
Inside there are three changing rooms and then lots of space for the Rapha clothing, which to my untrained eye seemed like the biggest range I had ever seen in the same place.
The idea of the Bicester Village Archive Store is that Rapha can sell off some of their left over stock at discounted prices but also produce some ranges that are unique to that one location. There was only one unique item on offer when I was there but it was the only the second day they had been open. The item was a light blue winter jersey, which at £80 was an absolute bargain (it would have been an even bigger bargain if I had used my 20% press discount on top of it). There were also plenty of clothing which I had never seen on the Rapha website - for example, they have the jerseys and caps from each of Rapha's clubhouses around the world, so you can buy a Rapha Seoul jersey without actually having to go to South Korea.
For anyone who is a Rapha fanatic, you really need to get to Bicester Village. There are some pretty deep discounts on a huge range of kit and also it is not only available in extra small, as you so often find in outlet stores.
Of course the Rapha Archive Store is also one of the Rapha clubhouses, so if you are a Rapha Cycling Club (RCC) member you can start rides there and get your free coffee with your membership card. The only pitfall is that you aren't actually allowed to cycle in the village, so there is a short walk from the edge to the Rapha store if you have chosen to ride there.
After I had inspected the Rapha store, I have to confess I then went and did some shopping. And I have to admit that, as these sort of things go, Bicester Village is pretty impressive. That is, until about lunchtime when the whole world seems to have descended and there were crowds of Chinese shoppers waiting to get into Gucci. But nevertheless, I could actually see myself going back again one day.
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