hummm I went a few times and like mentioned above I must prefer staying at Wildwood Crest and the boardwalk is also better in wildwood.
With that said, the outlets are pretty good in Atlantic City, I got Adidas running shoes last time for $14 at the adidas outlet.
Harrah's resort is my favorite place in AC, the pool is seriously awesome.
The city is pretty rundown and the boardwalk is "OK". If you've been to Vegas, the casino's in AC are NOTHING compared to those. I was not impressed by them at all.
Go for a day and then drive down to Ocean City and Wildwood.
I'm going to AC in a few days for the long weekend. I'll report back