Northlake Mall

[monsoon]

I've noticed that Northlake seems to have stabilized in that it hasn't lost any stores in quite an while and has survived the first quarter, when many marginal retail places go out of business, relatively unscathed. Except for a nail place and a few of the kiosks, all of the stores seem to be doing relatively well. Development around the mall continues at an amazing rate and it may actually help the mall in the long run. I would say that Northlake is doing better than Concord Mills these days given how dated that CM is starting to look and the fact that CM has lost several stores in the last couple of months.

[StevenRocks]

I've noticed that Northlake seems to have stabilized in that it hasn't lost any stores in quite an while and has survived the first quarter, when many marginal retail places go out of business, relatively unscathed. Except for a nail place and a few of the kiosks, all of the stores seem to be doing relatively well. Development around the mall continues at an amazing rate and it may actually help the mall in the long run. I would say that Northlake is doing better than Concord Mills these days given how dated that CM is starting to look and the fact that CM has lost several stores in the last couple of months.

Good to hear Northlake has stabilized. Nothing worse than a dead mall, especially one as new as that one.

I agree that Concord Mills got old-looking quick. The design is too bland on the outside and too busy inside, and all of it looks very cheap.

Edited March 19, 2008 by StevenRocks

[fulcrumsf]

I drove by Northlake today and was very surprised at how quickly development has popped up since the last time I was there. I can see there will be even more traffic problems especially once that portion of 485 opens up. I'll take pictures next time I'm down there.

[PeytonC]

Thought I would add these - taken Tuesday. Admittedly not the best shots but you get the idea. the area is already getting congested.

Super Target

Drury Hotel

[tozmervo]

Doug Smith has lost his mind. To call Perimeter Woods "pedestrian oriented" is a fallacy of laughable proportions. Adding sidewalks that no one will ever use does not make a suburban shopping center "pedestrian oriented."

Everything from the auto-scaled buildings to the extraordinary lengths of sidewalk required to move from one business to the next points to the same old story that you find in any suburb. The only difference here is that they invested a little more money in site construction.

I get so aggravated when developers try to pose these stupid lifestyle centers as the next big thing (no pun on Doug's column intended). They're no different from a bloody mall, you just cram parking in the middle with a fountain or two instead of parking around the edge.

[DigitalSky]

I saw that too and thought it was a bit outrageous. Pedestrian friendly my ass... you still have to drive to get there, it's still a big box store (or couple of them) surrounded by a sea of parking lot.

[83alphaunder]

I personally loved the quote about people maybe deciding to work there instead of downtown. So a Office Park/ Strip Mall with 200 apartments is going to make people quit their jobs uptown and expect to get a job in Perimeter Woods, are you serious. I don't understand the gaston county comment either. But seriously does 15 min drive+3 min walk make you a pedestrian? I think Dougie spent too much time in traffic, sniffin exhaust fumes, while heading up to northlake to check it out, and got a lil high. He then started tripping and thought he say pedestrian friendly.

[monsoon]

It's been suggested since day 1 by the developers the Northlake area would be developed into a pedestrian oriented urban paradise. I guess they are operating under the assumption that if they say it enough times, people will start to believe it.

[Andyc545]

So sad but so true; when this is the mall/BB/Lowe's that I use so close to home... It's honestly just looking like a rendition of Ballantyne up here, honestly. Here's to hope that the mixed use village that has the remaining acres bounded by 485 and 77 will contribute a positive urban change.

[MZT]

This seems to be the mall nobody talks about. But I stopped by there on Saturday. With all the gloomy retail news I was curious to see how that was panning out locally.

It was kind of odd. The parking lots were crammed with cars, and some people circling around trying to find spots. But the mall didn't really feel all that full of people. Lines at the food court were short, plenty of places to sit. Maybe it was just lots of individual shoppers, not cars full of families coming?

Anyway, this area has changed quite a bit if you have not been by here. It's starting to look like "Pineville North".

The construction on 485 really obscures this mall, now. They badly need some signage to tell motorists where to get off 77.

Edited December 25, 2008 by MZT

[Andyc545]

This seems to be the mall nobody talks about. But I stopped by there on Saturday. With all the gloomy retail news I was curious to see how that was panning out locally.

It was kind of odd. The parking lots were crammed with cars, and some people circling around trying to find spots. But the mall didn't really feel all that full of people. Lines at the food court were short, plenty of places to sit. Maybe it was just lots of individual shoppers, not cars full of families coming?

Anyway, this area has changed quite a bit if you have not been by here. It's starting to look like "Pineville North".

The construction on 485 really obscures this mall, now. They badly need some signage to tell motorists where to get off 77.

I was there 2 days before Christmas and the food court was packed when I went and had to wait about 10 minutes before getting a seat for me and a friend. Yeah, the mall has steadily become more busy year after year it seems and judging by the license plates in the parking lots, I think a lot of people are aware that the mall is convenient off of 77 for there travels now, whether they are headed south to Florida or S. Carolina or vice-versa. The hotel that's on site looks to be opening soon, the exterior appears completed.

[Temeteron]

KB Toys & Club Libby Lu (which are both next to each other) are both closing.....that's going to be an eyesore and hard to replace afterwards. I hope they find tenants fast.....meanwhile Foot Locker opens

[Batou]

KB Toys & Club Libby Lu (which are both next to each other) are both closing.....that's going to be an eyesore and hard to replace afterwards. I hope they find tenants fast.....meanwhile Foot Locker opens

Yeah I saw that like all KB Toys just about are closing, which is a shame, as a kid I liked going to those stores. I blame walmart

[InitialD]

Northlake is sort of an odd place. It hasn't really gotten one particular reputation yet. Some people tell everybody to avoid it - it is unsafe and an extension of the Sunset Ave exit. Others call it "Northpark" - Charlotte's new upscale area that's stealing Ballantyne's thunder. And everything in between.

[voyager12]

It's rather sad and telling to see how fast Northlake's fortunes have sunk. It's still a relatively new mall after all. But as was pointed out on here early on, the model NL was built upon was outmoded before the first shovel of dirt turned.

The standard boxy enclosed regional mall surrounded by an asphalt ocean represents a dying era. Luckily. Putting that aside the interior struck me as kind of drab and depressing the few times I have visited. Did not want to make me stay and shop around. Throw in some frightening crimes and lax enforcement of movie loitering, you get the "problem" mall image in the media. That's a hard image to dispel.

All things being equal and even on bad weather days I go up to Birkdale instead.

[Temeteron]

just went to NL earlier.....doesn't seem to be doing that bad.....a new Menswear Tux store has opened, Limited Too has changed to Justice, and Steve madden associates were telling me that they are NOT closing....time will tell LOL

[malldude85]

just went to NL earlier.....doesn't seem to be doing that bad.....a new Menswear Tux store has opened, Limited Too has changed to Justice, and Steve madden associates were telling me that they are NOT closing....time will tell LOL

You can't come to the mall one day and say if its doing bad or good, you need to come over a period of time to observe. You did come while it was CMS spring break and yes I'll agree with you it was busy and a few stores have changed their name. It just a matter of time before a lot more stores go out of this mall.

[derita1]

You can't come to the mall one day and say if its doing bad or good, you need to come over a period of time to observe. You did come while it was CMS spring break and yes I'll agree with you it was busy and a few stores have changed their name. It just a matter of time before a lot more stores go out of this mall.

Brother, who do you get your info from? I'm at most of the malls in charlotte all the time and northlake is doing great as for as I can see!!!!It is pretty sad that people what things to fell these days that you can't even post a simple comment online without bashing something for no apparent reason. It's no wonder this country is headed down the toilet.I think but could be wrong it the afro-american teens that makes you feel this way.......this illusion killed eastland mall,Customers were afraid to come to the mall because of the hundreds of young blacks who congregate there, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights,"yes there was shootings there,but I never witness one in my 38yr going there .I did see a shooting at carolina place mall packing lot a few year ago.

[monsoon]

....,"yes there was shootings there,but I never witness one in my 38yr going there ......

I would say this sort of thing will kill the business at any regional mall. These places are designed with one business model in mind directed at middle class america, and if guns are being fired, that model breaks. It has nothing to do with the race of the individuals. BTW, Birkdale Village also had issues with crime related to gangs of white teenagers congregating at the place and the mall management worked with the police to put an end to it. They didn't do the same at Eastland because that would lead to calls of racism. Nobody wants to go shop around throngs of un-supervised teens no matter what their race.

In any case, don't think Northlake's issues are the same as those at Eastland. Eastland suffered from a fairly bad design that became difficult to get to from most of Charlotte and there has been no substantial investment in that facility in 20+ years. Northlake's issues are due to the fact that it is a regional mall and the business model that I referred to above no longer works. The Charlotte City Council was remiss in allowing it to be built as it goes against every implied goal they have for building the city, but as we see over and over, this is also a city government who can't say no to developers. They should have never let Eastland be built in the first place as it sucked life out of downtown retail. Northlake is the same thing all over again 3 decades later. It should be noted the Huntersville town council at the time was opposed to the mall as they correctly said this area does not need 75,000 cars being drawn to it for big box shopping.

[malldude85]

I'm responding to where I get my information from. Ok I've been working in this mall almost as long as its been open. Every weekend I work and it has been different from year to year and weekends are getting worse. Ever since Eastland went down we have had their problems with teenagers and gangs and the sad part is mall security doesn't seem to care that much and even the real police people that are here are getting ice cream, and watching tv, and to me thats just not taking security seriously. I've even had customers say to me that they don't feel safe here and this was at the 9pm closing time so I had to call security for them to escort them to their car.

Oh and someone please tell me if they have heard any advertisements about northlake mall because they said they were doing a 19 week advertisement campaign in magazines and radio and some other stuff I can't remember.

[chastogville]

i work for a relatively upscale retail chain that has a store at northlake and the past two years i have watched as that stores volume drop dramatically and is now the lowest volume store in the company year to date. I often wondered what was going on...it all cant be blamed on the economy. A mall or store can appear busy, but are people actually buying? guesss not...

[malldude85]

How is Dick's Sporting Goods surviving? They have to be in some form of going bankrupt I mean I know the one at Northlake is doing really bad. The employees don't stay long with exception to a few of them and at a starting pay of $8.50 something has to be bad to pay them that much just to get them to stay.

[derita1]

i work for a relatively upscale retail chain that has a store at northlake and the past two years i have watched as that stores volume drop dramatically and is now the lowest volume store in the company year to date. I often wondered what was going on...it all cant be blamed on the economy. A mall or store can appear busy, but are people actually buying? guesss not...

Why can't you blame it on the economy? This is real funny to me,store's are closing at south park mall............OH............but I bet you blame that on the economy!!!!!!This country

[monsoon]

^He said the Northlake store was the slowest in his entire company. Either the economy is much worse at Northlake (unlikely) or there are other factors at play. My guess is that it is due to very bad planning. The developers at Northlake hoped to make that place an upscale mall by attracting the people at the Lake area, but the demographics here are quite different that that of SE Charlotte and hence, they never showed up. Stores that cater to the high end are having trouble at Northlake because there is no customer set for them.

I also recommend that you stop trying to bait people into an argument. If you have something to say, then say it, but you don't need to accuse other forumers of misdeeds.

[DigitalSky]

^He said the Northlake store was the slowest in his entire company. Either the economy is much worse at Northlake (unlikely) or there are other factors at play. My guess is that it is due to very bad planning. The developers at Northlake hoped to make that place an upscale mall by attracting the people at the Lake area, but the demographics here are quite different that that of SE Charlotte and hence, they never showed up. Stores that cater to the high end are having trouble at Northlake because there is no customer set for them.

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I also recommend that you stop trying to bait people into an argument. If you have something to say, then say it, but you don't need to accuse other forumers of misdeeds.

Indeed this is the case. When they built the mall at Exit 18, it was at the upper fringes of the Charlotte City Limits. The city wanted it their way: get the tax revenue from the mall and surrounding establishments but get the residents of the upscale lake communities. I don't understand how they didn't see (especially with the shuttering of most of Eastland) that many of the residents of northwest and northeast/east Charlotte -- the demographics that Northlake was not going for-- would need a place to go. Taubman had poised Northlake to be (tenant-wise) a hybrid of Carolina Place and SouthPark, probably not expecting it to be the way it is now.

Northlake mall is a good example of planning at its worst. Building an enclosed car-friendly mall off of one of the busiest roads in the city and the intersection of two interstate highways. I believe it was one of the last, if not last or second to last, enclosed malls ever to be built. When they first proposed it, it was supposed to be like Streets at Southpoint in Durham and have a full "outdoor village" section (yes, not that much of an improvement but still a little bit better).. of course that never happened. I don't understand how developers haven't learned from Pineville and the sort about bad choices made in the past. Obviously I like malls, but these days they need to be better planned and utilized, and I'm so much more for the current malls being revitalized than building new superfluous sprawling structures across land creating this black hole effect. Part of the reason I'm against Bridges at Mint Hill happening, it would create so much more harm than good in the long run.