Northlake Mall

[StevenRocks]

I was just looking at the Investor Relations part of the Dillard's website. Same-store sales down 5% in December '06, when upscale department stores are doing great and even Macy's is showing increases?

With a struggling chain having the Northlake store, which just has to be performing badly considering how dead it always seems, hmmm...wonder what will happen if trends don't change...

Dillard's tends to close stores at the drop of a hat these days. If it doesn't perform, the Northlake location will disappear.

[AuLukey]

A friend of mine who just happens to be a store manager for a local Circuit City said that they will be building a store at Northlake and one in Mooresville in the next two years for sure now. Northlake, the future University City.

[monsoon]

Yeah it was nothing that was originally promised for the area as it has turned out to be nothing but big box shopping. Maybe some of the other projects will do a better job. At least all the streets there have sidewalks and there are bike lanes though I would be scared to ride a big around there given the amount of traffic. I put the blame on this squarely in the lap of the Mayor and the city council who can't say not to bad development.

[Skyline49er]

Well, I was looking around on the Observer website last night, and I found this article about a new REI coming to the NorthCrest shopping center near NorthLake Mall. It should open in the spring of 2008

REI Northlake

[Temeteron]

Dillard's tends to close stores at the drop of a hat these days. If it doesn't perform, the Northlake location will disappear.

Good, then maybe Saks or someone else might move in!

[StevenRocks]

Good, then maybe Saks or someone else might move in!

It's not like Dillard's is going to pull out because it's not upscale enough. The way thngs are going at Nortlake thes days, it may pull out because it's too upscale.

[nyxmike]

It's not like Dillard's is going to pull out because it's not upscale enough. The way thngs are going at Nortlake thes days, it may pull out because it's too upscale.

Sadly, Northlake isn't even "upscale." Maybe the people who live up there have no taste in shopping... should have (better?) just built another Walmart I guess..

Edited January 20, 2007 by nyxmike

[DigitalSky]

Northlake isn't even "upscale." Maybe the people who live up there have no taste in shopping... should of just built another Walmart I guess..

should have* (sorry, that just bugs me)

but he was saying that Dillard's might be too upscale for Northlake.. reiterating what you said about the mall not being upscale.

[ScottCLT]

I'm not a mall expert or anything, but I never perceived Northlake as upscale. It's nice, but it's no SouthPark. This place can't support two SouthParks. I perceived it as north Charlotte's version of Carolina Place. And I think it sits pretty well with that description. It's not a cheap-o mall either, though. There's a Banana Republic, Coach, Anthropologie, L'Occitane, etc. I know these are typical mall stores, but the clientele of these places aren't buying $4.99 shirts at Wal-mart. A shirt at BR will run $70-100. Anything for the ladies at Anthropologie rarely costs less that $150 from what I've seen. I have actually known of people coming down here from Raleigh to shop at Anthropologie because there isn't (or maybe there wasn't at the time) one there. Northlake seems to me like a middle of the road mall...the kind you see in any city in America in the suburbs. Not great, not bad...not expensive, not cheap...just middle of the road, like Carolina Place.

[rjp212]

I agree...I have always looked at the mall as being Carolina Place North and I feel like people on here are too harsh on the mall. I live out of state because I am at school in Virginia, but when I come home and visit the mall it seems to always have a decent flow and I have never looked at is as being a failure. I feel that alot of people look at is as being ghetto because of the large black clients, which is wrong to assume that because black people shop there its a ghetto mall.

[StevenRocks]

but he was saying that Dillard's might be too upscale for Northlake.. reiterating what you said about the mall not being upscale.

Thank you cantnot for clearing that up for me. I realized after I typed it, it wasn't as clear as it should have been.

I feel that alot of people look at is as being ghetto because of the large black clients, which is wrong to assume that because black people shop there its a ghetto mall.

That's pretty much the case with any mall with a large black clientele. People automatically assume it's ghetto, like you said. Even really proseperous malls like Pentagon City outside Washington, DC have that stigma because of this, and it couldn't be further from the truth there!

I've been saying for a while that former Eastland shoppers are spilling over to Northlake. I've also said that whatever problems, percieved or otherwise, that come with this aren't going away by building a new mall farther out. They just move over.

[Temeteron]

Sbarro has taken over the Pizza place that was in the food court.....I'm guessing it was Villa pizza"? im not sure...can't remember....

[monsoon]

Sbarro has taken over the Pizza place that was in the food court.....I'm guessing it was Villa pizza"? im not sure...can't remember....

It has always been Sbarro.

[monsoon]

NorthLake has found it necessary to put up freestanding signs in front of all of the entrances that are titled. "Rules of Common Courtesy".

Basically it is a list of bad behaviors that one should not demonstrate while inside the mall. For some reason this mall has gotten onto the road to dead mall status very fast.

[swh1972]

Well, it appears that they have realized it, which may mean they can do something about it. I imagine that there are a lot of poepole who have invested significant time and money to make Northlake successful. Will be interesting to see what they do to clean up it's image.

[DigitalSky]

It has always been Sbarro.

It was Famous Famiglia prior.

[SmellyCat]

NorthLake has found it necessary to put up freestanding signs in front of all of the entrances that are titled. "Rules of Common Courtesy".

Basically it is a list of bad behaviors that one should not demonstrate while inside the mall.

Having not been to Northlake in quite awhile (apparently I'm not alone), I'm just curious as to what type of behavior has been going on there which would necessitate such a sign?

[mallguy]

Darn- Famous Famiglia was a NY-based real pizza place; they have just a few locations.

The lower level of Northlake attracts that Eastland Mall crowd. Enough said?

[monsoon]

There is an announcement today that Cornelius will be building an Birkdale Village type development next to the original Birkdale Village which will include 900.000 sq ft of retail shopping and include two hotels, and close to 500 homes. Add to this the shopping in Birkdale village and one finds there will be more retail space in these developments than inside NorthLake Mall. Their hopes of attracting the Lake crowd has disappeared with this announcement and I think the mall will die faster than imagined.

I was over there for lunch yesterday and I notice there is still significant amounts of un-leased space more than 1.5 years since that mall opened.

[rooster8]

It sounds like somebody really missed the boat on market projections.

[DigitalSky]

It sounds like somebody really missed the boat on market projections.

Yeah that's true. It's definately something when you start talking about a mall dying and you're not even 2 years into it being open.

an Birkdale Village type development next to the original Birkdale Village

I just want to make it clear that this new development won't be right next to the original Birkdale Village, but a few miles from it, according to the article. 900,000 square feet is huge though and this will certainly become a true competitor to Northlake Mall. In all honesty, this is where Northlake Mall should have gone (but I know that the northern suburbs wouldn't approve that) hence why NL is in the northernmost portion of the Charlotte city limit.

[rjp212]

I agree..I think Northlake would've done better actually in the Lake towns, but thankfully their zoning laws don't allow for mall development.

[Temeteron]

I dono, I still feel that NL is doing really well and in my opinion is the 2nd best mall in Charlotte....and with the growth of Lake Norman, in addition to Eastland's situation, I think that NL has happy days ahead; Does anyone remember how Carolina Place was when it first opened? I'm sure it wasn't full the first year or two either......

[mallguy]

Look as well at population projections for north Mecklenburg for the next 20 years; the anticipated growth is phenomenal. I think NL will do OK- although there are only so many retail centers that even a highly-populated area can support (so the new 900,000 sf center could impact NL as well).

[CLT]

Does anyone remember how Carolina Place was when it first opened? I'm sure it wasn't full the first year or two either......

My recollection of Carolina Place is that it did take several years to really get rolling. I worked with a woman who's family opened a store at CP soon after the Mall opened. I remember her talking about how slow the traffic in the Mall was. After a year they closed the store.