IF you’re counting down the days until your summer holiday and still have some last minute items to buy, there’s one shop you’ll want to avoid.
Money expert Martin Lewis said high street stalwart Zara is best avoided if you’re heading to Europe.
Items in the shop are typically more expensive in the UK than they are in other countries.
So if you’re heading to Spain, Greece, France or Italy this summer, you might want to hold off until you get there.
Originally founded in Spain, Zara saves its best bargains for its home country.
You’ll also find lower prices in Greece, France and Italy, though the difference might not be as big as you’ll find in Spain.
For example, a women’s rustic dress costs £49.99 in the UK, but in Spain it would only set you back £33.80.
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The same dress in France costs £42.20 – so not a massive difference, but still cheaper.
Another example is a men’s white linen blend suit blazer. It’s normally £109 in the UK, but Spain sells it for £30 less.
Revealing the difference in the latest MoneySavingExpert newsletter, Martin said: “The pound price is often higher than the euro price before you even convert the currency (which further cheapens the euro price).
“And while you can’t get English delivery from its Spanish website, the big boon is it gives you the option to select ‘English’ as the language – and the websites in other countries are almost identical – so you can easily browse in advance for pricing research purposes.”
And Zara isn’t the only high street store you might find bargains in abroad – the same applies for Massimo Dutti and Pull & Bear, which are owned by the same country.
You’ll be able to use a store locator tool abroad if you’re not sure which shops are near.
Make sure you shop around in other stores too for the best deal – we can’t guarantee you’ll only find cheaper results in Zara, so it’s worth looking about for similar items.
For example, Matalan has a holiday deal on with summer clothes starting from £3.50.
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Similarly, Primark often has cheap summer clothes all year round, so if you’re looking for a haul it’s worth best taking a look there.
And you can always visit supermarkets and see what deals they have on their clothes – remember Tesco often has Clubcard deals.
