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Northgate Mall


DigitalSky

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Here are some pictures courtesy of the Northgate Mall website featuring the new movie theater recently opened on the new open air plaza in the former Hudson Belk location. I'd like to point out that the back of the theater, located in the 3rd picture still reeks of the former department store. One of these days I'll make it out to the new plaza to see what's going on...

Pictures of the Phoenix 10 Movie Theater

That theater entrance is a little weak architecturally. You'd think facing a plaza like that they would have gone for a little more interesting details than a white awning and a flat red marquee.
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That theater entrance is a little weak architecturally. You'd think facing a plaza like that they would have gone for a little more interesting details than a white awning and a flat red marquee.

The exterior of the theater leaves a lot to be desired. The interior is done well...very spacious. Its needs a couple of well placed couches and some other things that I can't place. The upstairs bar is nice touch...there is a small mezzanine that is above the ticket booth that is carpeted. I'm wondering if there would be live bands playing up there?

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You'll see better films at the Carolina, and who can beat the 1920s architecture? Certainly no mall theatre.

North Durham needs a theater and I can't see Idlewild at the Carolina Theatre. I like Independent Films but I have never been to Carolina Theater. I can't tell you why...please don't steal my Bull City Card. :D

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I like Independent Films but I have never been to Carolina Theater. I can't tell you why...please don't steal my Bull City Card. :D

:blink:

Hmmm....if you say that you also have never been to the Starlite Drive-In Theatre, then yes I will have to steal your Bull City Card cuz then that would mean, I a Raleighite, am more of a true Bull City patron that you! :shok:

:rofl:

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:blink:

Hmmm....if you say that you also have never been to the Starlite Drive-In Theatre, then yes I will have to steal your Bull City Card cuz then that would mean, I a Raleighite, am more of a true Bull City patron that you!

:rofl:

Okay I haven't been to Starlite but have been to Carolina Theater to see a play. I keep my card now. :D

Back on topic...I can't wait to see the tenants that will join the Theater and ice cream parlor in the new plaza area. Northgate is special in Durham and is more intimate even for people who regularly visit Southpointe. They just need more reasons to go back to Northgate.

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  • 4 months later...

Thought I'd post news about a new national tenant coming to Northgate, Charlotte Russe, the snippet is the 2nd story on the page. Anyone have any information about this store, or any news to share regarding a recent visit to Northgate?

Looks like a teeny-bopper store. At least from what I could guess from their otherwise-completely-useless website.

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Charlotte Russe Coming to Northgate

Thought I'd post news about a new national tenant coming to Northgate, Charlotte Russe, the snippet is the 2nd story on the page. Anyone have any information about this store, or any news to share regarding a recent visit to Northgate?

Yeah, Charlotte Russe isn't anything special, though it's good to see that they've been able to attract another tenant.

I live close to Northgate and have been thrilled with the new movie theater (best place to see a commercial/mass market flick in the Triangle) and the Marble Slab Creamery (which is a franchise owned by a family -- hardest working guys you'd hope to meet.) I've been less thrilled with the inability of the Northgate folks (i.e., the Rand family, scions of Coca-Cola bottling in the area) to get this renovation up and running.

They've completed the build-out of the outdoor shopping area, but it's all literally steel beams awaiting tenant up-fit. From what I've been able to gather, they have a couple of businesses "interested" in going there, but other than the theater and ice cream -- no go. Someone raised a good point -- the new outdoor area is completely hidden by the eastern parking garage, so not the most visible area. Supposedly an Italian restaurant is coming to the plaza, but it's been deathly quiet getting news of what's going on.

I love the fact that Northgate is locally owned, but frankly, I'm wondering if the mall and the community would be better served if the Rands threw in the towel and sold the mall to either a Simon/CBL/General Growth mall owner, or a Kane-style developer to turn the property into condos. Thinking ahead to the opening of the East End Connector in 6-8 years... you've got a property that borders some great neighborhoods... is a 20 minute walk or 5 minute drive to downtown/Brightleaf... and (with the EEC) will be a 10-12 minute drive to RTP and Duke alike. There will be no more "connected" location in Durham anywhere outside of the I-40 corridor and downtown itself.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So I was bored sitting here at work and under the new stores on the N/G website they have listed Office Depot as having taken over the old Office Max space, glad to see they didn't have to try to chop up another large space into smaller stores. Is Old Navy just sitting there empty? That is a rather large space to fill in what has historically been a healthier part of the mall...

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I went to Northgate last night to how things are there.

The Old Navy space is still empty, and there are few other empty store fronts in that wing. The "A Dollar" store about halfway between Sears and the carousel.

Using the web site's map as a guide, the 100 area is at least a third empty. On a stretch of the wall in that part of the mall, old diagrams of the outdoor plaza are posted. They have "restaurnts 2005" in the 700 series area and "shops 2006" in the 800 series area. Marble Slab creamery, a portable bbq cooker, and the movie theater are the only tenants in the outdoor portion. In the rest of the mall, there are as many local stores as there are national chains. At the entrance near Marble Slab creamery, there is a list of 15 rules posted. I don't remember seeing them posted at any of the other entrances.

There were a lot of people hanging out, but few people carrying purchased items. I know it was the Wednesday before the UNC/Duke game, but Southpoint, Northgate, Cary Town Center, and even Triangle Town Center have felt livelier during similar mid-week, non-holiday visits.

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Went to Northgate Saturday and noticed The Bombay Company is closed, even though the directory still lists them, also I was not impressed by the plaza at all, looked like a blank wall w/ 1 store facing the parking deck with a bunch of large wooden blocks in front of the movie theater. Aside from that the mall was as I expected, seems to be almost a 50/50 mix of national stores and regional/local stores, although the vacant storefronts at least appeared spaced out amongst the open ones, instead of all clustered together in one wing. The mall's "best" national stores seem to be clustered by Macys, although there are still several vacant store fronts between Macys and the food court, and the quality of stores seem to deteriorate the farther u get from Macy's, although it doesn't get too local until u get close to where Hudson Belk was.

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Funny that Downtown Raleigh wants Fayetteville St to be a hangout as a result of people showing up to visit stores that are slowly appearing (mostly restaurants now), but when a mall becomes a hangout, it spells trouble....I guess a hangout for adults with purchasing power vs. one for teensagers is a key difference....Northgate will always feel like a neighborhood mall to me (like North Hiills) and neighborhood malls should only expect neighborhood stores. Regional malls will attract regional retailers, and have facilities and demographics to support it....

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Malls of any level need national chains for the anchor spaces and a smattering of other national stores (Gap/limited, Radio Shack/EB Games, spencer's gifts, shoe stores, etc. ) to attract shoppers. Once Triangle Town Center opened, the "old" North Hills was hemoraging stores. But now North Hills has a decent mix -- JC Penny's, Target, Athlete's Foot, EB Games, cell phone stores, etc. are sprinkled in with local botiques.

Northgate still has a fair number of national smaller stores - Victoria's Secret, Radio Shack, FYE, etc. -- but losing Old Navy to Southpoint is a big hole to fill. The food court has no empty spaces, not including the Chick-Fil-A and Marble Slab creamery located out of the food court. The movie theater should be a good draw, but the empty outdoor "shell" makes it feel disconnected from the rest of the mall.

Contrast this with when Southpoint opened. Not ever space in the open air wing was filled, but there was enough open to make it feel connected. North Hills' theater placement has also helped it to become a hang out. The circle feels like a food court with the starbucks, ben and jerry's, chick fil a, EB Games, Q Shack, etc. But the other stores -- the creepy glamor shots for kids, the sports store, sportclips, sunglass hut, fox and hound -- keeps the area from being a "fast food ghetto". Putting McAllisters, Moe's, and Momma Fu's further away spreads the foot traffic "wealth" across the whole property. And it feels like an "adult" hangout and a "teen" one at the same time.

If Northgate is at least breaking even, then more power to them. The rennovations appeared to be a sign that they want to become more than a neighborhood mall. Northgate is firmly a "teen" mall with Great oudoor provisions company and the pub at the theater being the only "pure adult" places there. Can a teen oriented neiborhood mall last in that location? If South Hills in Cary is still standing, Northgate will be too. The tenant mix might not pay top dollar per square foot, but it will be enough to keep Northgate going.

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  • 2 months later...

So TigerDirect is moving into the space vacated by Old Navy. This is more good news for Northgate. I often visit their store on Capital Blvd but the drive and traffic is getting old. If my memory is correct, the Old Navy store occupied a decent amount of square footage. I wonder if TigerDirect plans to use all of that space?

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/takingstock/...p;tb=1&pb=1

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

I stopped by on Saturday afternoon and it seems to be holding its own vs. Southpoint. I liked the Tiger Direct store more than the one in Raleigh, mostly because it felt more bright and open due to the former Old Navy's windowed storefront. They had a decent selection of TVs, monitors and computers, and computer parts, and an outside entrance for easy purchase pickup.

The Macy's wing, however, had three empty spaces that looked like they would stay empty going into the holiday season. It wasn't dead like the Belk wing just before the movie theater/outdoor area construction, but it did seem to break up the energy from the food court area.

The movie theater area is still struggling for tenants other than Marble Slab. Maybe they should get Pan Pan, Chic Fil A or Ruby Tuesday to move over there to help anchor the space along next to the theater.

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  • 1 year later...

I recently came across an old Northgate Directory from I believe 2002ish, right around the time Southpoint Mall opened. I just scanned the front and back for the alphabetical store listings. It's wierd to look back and see all the chains that were in the mall at the turn of the decade. I also recall a Disney Store being in the mall til about 2000/2001 as well.

post-3026-1250216747_thumb.jpg

post-3026-1250216882_thumb.jpg

As a reference here's a link to the current directory:

http://www.northgatemall.com/shopping/directory/

To compare then vs now is a bit of an eye opener, but I spose as long as it's remaining anchors stay put the mall will probably continue as is for a while. There are still chains present but it appears as if the mall is trending more and more towards the local stores. Anyone been to the mall recently? Northgate seems to be the Triangle area's forgotten mall...

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  • 10 months later...

^ That is a very good article. I too find it ironic--and baffling--that Northgate is probably located better to pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods than any other Triangle mall, yet their outdoor pedestrian "plaza" was no where near as successful as Southpoint's or North Hill's.

But then again, Northgate's strong suit--and survival against the odds--has always been that they are the only regional mall off of I-85....which has little to do with pedestrian-friendliness.

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