Lodi Station Outlets has been voted *Ohio’s Best Outlet Shopping Center for the 2nd year in a row and is the ONLY Outlet Shopping Center that features Vintage Train Rides in the Nation! *Voted by the “Official Best Of” web site for 2010.

Last weekend (Father’s Day weekend) our family participated in a VIP Blogger’s Event at the Lodi Station Outlets in Lodi, near Burbank, Ohio (Medina area). Our family occasionally shops there so Lodi Station is a bit familiar to us, it’s probably about a 45 minute drive for us from Canton. Jockey is one of my favorite brands and I find the lowest prices on what I want right in their outlet store. Another of my favorite brands to shop at Lodi Outlets is The Children’s Place.

Both of those stores had good deals going on but I found myself buying at some stores I usually don’t.

Lodi Station Outlets wanted us, bloggers and our families, to see and experience a variety of what makes Lodi Station Outlets the place to find great prices, great products and family fun. They armed each of our families with one/ $100 Visa card to shop the outlets, a Swag Bag (gift bag) of products and info from some of the stores, they fed us lunch from the Steam Cafe and ice cream cones from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and gave us a ride on the train. All of this is so we can “show & tell” you first hand about our experiences at Lodi Station Outlets.

* I recommend the Buckeye ice cream (peant butter/chocolate- YUM) at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory & special thanks to the Steam Cafe for custom making my picky boys their favorite- butter & peanut butter sandwiches. I know, kids are weird 😉

I made a list of what I knew we should focus on to make the most out of this shopping trip and we got most of it.

What we bought.

We spent about $21 in the Men’s Wrangler store- Joel got a pair of jean shorts and a nice shirt.

At Osh Kosh B’Gosh we got Brendan 1 shirt and Jack 2 shirts and a pair of shoes – about $30.

I visited the Bali Playtex store and found my (hard to find) bra size and in record time, I think, tried on and bought 3 of the nicest bras I’ve found- and on sale Buy 3 and pay $16.99 each. A VERY GOOD deal, indeed. Great quality and price. Literally I saved $6 and/or  $7 off each one by buying three. About $54 total there.

If we had more time we could have searched more for shoes for Brendan and Joel but we had a church group cook-out to be at so we had to leave about 4pm.

In the Swag.

One of the items in our Swag Bag (gift/goodie bag) was this awesome 4 set of  Hamilton Beach spatulas on a removeable ring. I used them for the first time this morning while making icing for our cinnamon rolls and they are really nice to handle. And how cute are they!

These can be found at the Kitchen Collection and the price on them said $9.99 (worth it!) and are safe to 450 degrees.

First stop when you arrive.

Be sure to stop at the Customer Service desk and ask about the HOT TICKET card to savings.

Also, if Train Rides are your reason for visiting often, ask about the VIP Premier Pass. I believe it costs $35 for one year of free train rides. They gave each of us one of these (you get your picture taken and put on a plastic card) but the card says it expires in December so they may run on a calendar year basis.  Be sure to ask before you buy because 6 months is not the same as 12 months. Being (needing to be) a frugal family we would not buy these passes. However, this may be a great deal for you.

Be sure to pick up their Lodi Station Savings Courier. It looks like a small newspaper 2 front/back pages and I found many % off and $$ coupons in it as well as a list of activities/events to plan ahead for at Lodi Outlets.  I’ve listed most if not all of what is coming up between now and end of September:

For Sales:

7/1-4         Independence Day Sidewalk Sales

7/5-30      Back to School Gift With Purchase

7/24-26    End of the month sidewalk sales

8/1-14       Back to School Gift With Purchase

8/26-28    End of the month sidewalk sales

9/2-5         Labor Day Weekend Sidewalk Sales

23-25        End of month sidewalk sales

Meet & Greet Chugga Chugga Charlie:

July 2 & 16 from Noon-3pm

August 7 and 27 from Noon-3pm

September 3 & 10 from Noon – 4pm

Other Special Events:

Chalk on the Walk, July 2 & 16, Noon-2pm

Wild West Weekend, Reverse Train Robbery on August 27 & September 17

Follow Lodi Station Outlet on Facebook and on Twitter.

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*Disclosure: We received the $100 Visa card to spend at Lodi Station Outlet, lunch,ice cream, train ride and VIP Premier train ride Passes (something NEW at Lodi Station) for free as part of this review opportunity. All opinions in this post are my own. If you’d like my family to review your company, product or event, please visit my PR Media page: I work with Brands.