A fifty dollar bill does not go far at a sit-down dinner, but hand it to a patient shopper in Tennessee and it can come home as a jacket, two pairs of jeans, and a bag of clearance socks. Outlet centers here sit close enough to Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis that the gas money stays low and the day stays long.
Some are open-air with mountain views, others are climate-controlled for a rainy Saturday, and nearly all of them park you for free. Here are six places where a small budget stretches further than the receipt suggests.
1. Tanger Outlets Sevierville
Roughly 30 to 45 minutes southeast of Knoxville, this sprawling open-air center sits right on the Parkway at 1645 Parkway in Sevierville, with mountain ridges filling the gaps between storefronts.
Google Maps files it plainly as a shopping-mall chain featuring brand-name and designer outlet stores, and the scale backs that up. The complex is large enough that most shoppers pick a wing, work it thoroughly, and circle back rather than trying to cover everything in one pass…