West Reading's Vanity Fair Outlets complex was the anchor of Reading's long run as the "Outlet Capital of the World" — a title the city promoted enthusiastically from the 1980s onward, when the conversion of former factory buildings into discount retail centres became a regional industry. At peak, there were enough outlet centres in and around Reading to fill a weekend.
The outlets in West Reading, housed in former factory buildings along Penn Avenue, remain the largest concentration. The brands rotate with the fashion economy, but the format — big discounts off retail prices for last season's stock and overstocks — holds. This is primarily a destination for bargain hunters rather than tourists, but if you are passing through and need clothes, it remains a genuinely useful stop.