The first time I heard of this place was when an acquaintance, knowing that I spend quite some time in Brussels, acted geniously surprised when I said I do not know this store. “Where else would one buy the shoes”,- he shouted out loud! Needless to say, I had to check it out!

De Grif (Shoes Outlet) is located in one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Brussels, at Rue Simonis, 47-49 – 1050 – Ixelles, so it was a pleasant walk anyway, while looking for a place.

As pretty much any outlet in Brussels, the place looks awfully unimpressive from outside. In fact, I passed this place so many times while in the neighbourhood without ever suspecting it may hide some luxury shoes treasures.

Inside, it’s equally unimpressive but surprisingly huge! The best part with luxury brands’ female shoes are just when you enter, at the right, in front of the till. You usually have some Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, Tod’s there. The luxury section continues next where brands tend to change every season. Upon my last visit, it also had Salvatore Ferragamo, Hogan, YSL, Dior, Givenchy, to name a few.

I did notice they regularly have surprisingly big collection of Casadei… and right at the point Casadei finishes, the “luxury” brands end too, as outlet is also full of other much less known and less impressive brands. It also has a big male shoes section too.

My verdict: the store does deliver on expectation to find some great brands. HOWEVER, prices and selection are really not that impressive. The stock is pretty much the old leftovers from regular stores at, to my horror, prices you would normally have at those high street stores during the start of sales period!

Here are some prices I have recorded last time I visited this place: Yves Saint Laurent: 449 EUR, Dior 315 EUR, Givenchy 375 EUR, Miu Miu 195, Casadei 145 EUR.

Go figure: why buying at the unimpressive outlet, choosing from limited (old) stock and paying the same price you would pay during sales in the regular brand store, selecting from much bigger selection of pieces? I would only do it if I missed sales period or in the unlikely event I accidently bump into the shoes of my life which I somehow missed elsewhere!

I heard some urban legends of people getting some really good deals during sales period here though, such as paying 30EUR for extravagant last model of Casadei. I have personally not witnessed that, but if you are in the neighbourhood during sales and come across such a miracle- give me a shout!