Urban Outfitters seems to be a hot name in retailing, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered Anthropologie. If you haven’t heard, seen, or visited an Anthropologie store, you are missing an experience, I kid you not.

After returning from the store, I dug up some statistics that surprised me. Here’s one that had a significant impact on me: the average Anthropologie shopper spends eighty minutes in the store per visit. Eighty — that’s 1 hour, 20 minutes on each visit. How much time do you think the average shopper spends with other retailers? Fifteen minutes. That’s an amazing number that should convey loads about the feel of the stores.

Anthropologie was founded to profit from patrons of the Urban Outfitters chain who outgrew UA’s fashions. As such, the target consumer for Anthropologie clothing is a 30 to 40’ish sophisticated woman with high disposable income. Not a bad market to target!

Ask ten women how they feel about Anthropologie and you’ll likely get . . . one opinion! Almost unanimously, people love the store, but aren’t crazy about the prices. Granted, they are steep, but for good reason. Anthropologie is very selective and exclusive with their fashion lines, and just about all of the clothing you find in a retail location is limited edition. Heck, they even have some one-of-a-kind pieces!

These items tend to fly off of the shelves, leaving mismatched items here and there, but that leads to an opportunity for shoppers: namely, sales racks. There are a bunch of discounted items if you don’t mind digging, which I’m sure is partly responsible the average length of stay.

What impresses me the most about Anthropologie clothes is the distinctive styling. Their clothes include a lot of floral prints, laces, and velvets, but look classy and sophisticated at the same time. The feeling that I get is that it’s a clothing line for confident women who don’t want to reveal half of their bodies to look sexy. Home run, I’d say.

If you’re really looking for a bargain, you can find discount Anthropologie clothing online – not through the Anthropologie store, but through other retailers. I can’t imagine that these items are wholesale, and with the high turnover in clothing, I don’t think it’s made up of last season’s items either, but the price is right!

Here’s the bottom line: if you haven’t yet shopped in an Anthropologie store, find out if there’s one in the vicinity. It really is a great shopping experience. But beware of the prices!