Northlake Mall

[AuLukey]

...and Steve madden associates were telling me that they are NOT closing....time will tell LOL

My friend and I went in that store hoping they would start to carry men's shoes again now that the SP location closed and they informed us that they too would be closing at month's end.

As for the safety and demographics of this mall, I can't say that I have even felt a little uncomfortable (let alone afraid for my safety) at this mall. I know it may just be a matter of opinion, but these "hooligans" are just another demographic in Charlotte that blend in with the rest. If they didn't go to the malls, then they would be uptown as "they" seem to gravitate to the city centers in other urban areas. Or how about if they hung out at Southpark?

Edited May 2, 2009 by aussie luke

[JayGee]

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.

Wasn't the addition at Carolina Place supposed to an open, streetscape design when they first proposed it? Turned out to be just another mall building.

[derita1]

^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.

Mr sensitive, I'm you telling the truth.....hummmmmm.....the truth hurts.

[derita1]

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.

What about the upscale black neighborhoods around the mall they don't count?

[mallguy]

What about the upscale black neighborhoods around the mall they don't count?

Can you name a retailer that's dumb and racist in that it excludes customers based on race?

Surely such an idiot store would go out of business.

I wouldn't shop in such a place out of anger at such practices, and I am white.

[derita1]

Can you name a retailer that's dumb and racist in that it excludes customers based on race?

Surely such an idiot store would go out of business.

I wouldn't shop in such a place out of anger at such practices, and I am white.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....I have not called anyone dumb or racist in my posts......HMMMM......I guest people true colour's come out when the truth is told!

[Temeteron]

Enough drama....back to the topic......Crabtree & Evelyn has closed, and a Cookie House store is opening soon :-/

[mallguy]

Enough drama....back to the topic......Crabtree & Evelyn has closed, and a Cookie House store is opening soon :-/

Thanks for sharing- unfortunate to see that- I have never set foot in a C&E but would assume it's a high-end-ish store, as the only ones I've seen are in nicer malls.

And Cookie House sounds like a mom & pop store?

[jednc]

According to WBTV, Northlake Mall is instituting a curfew for kids under 18 on Fridays and Saturdays after 5:00 pm. It will go into affect next month. According to the mall manager, most store owners are happy about the new rule. They apparently feel these minors are not there to shop but to hang out.

At the risk of sounding old...this doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

[StevenRocks]

I don't know if it'll work the same way at Northlake, but my local mall instituted a youth curfew for kids under 18 a few years ago, and I don't know if it helped business or not. Sure, the walkways are clearer, but it doesn't look like many people are doing much shopping either.

Edited May 27, 2009 by StevenRocks

[AuLukey]

I agree with Steven. It can go either way. Just like in uptown, people are more likely to go where other people are, so if you cut out the "hooligans," it will make the mall appear more dead and, thus, could lead to fewer patrons. On the other hand though, it does get the kids that are just there to hang out away from mall property. However, on the same token, if they are doing this because the kids are obviously not spending any money there, then are they going to get rid of all the elderly people that walk in the malls in the mornings for exercise? I always saw malls as a place for people to have fun, rather than just shop. This seems counterproductive IMO.

[abttown]

I don't have a problem kicking those pimple-faced brats out of malls if all they do is "hang" around. I personally avoid almost all malls during the weekend for this very reason. The mall will appear less populated I'm sure, but I don't think sales will go down because of the curfew.

[Batou]

I hated teenagers when I WAS a teenager, less of them around the better.

[AuLukey]

Forgive me for not shaking my cane at the kids on the lawn. I personally am happy for this change, but I don't believe that it is justifiable for any reason.

Does this also mean that teenagers under 18 can't work in the mall on fridays or saturdays? I'm pretty sure that my job in the summers of my sophomore and junior years of high school were spent working retail.

Edited May 27, 2009 by aussie luke

[101_ce]

Forgive me for not shaking my cane at the kids on the lawn. I personally am happy for this change, but I don't believe that it is justifiable for any reason.

Does this also mean that teenagers under 18 can't work in the mall on fridays or saturdays? I'm pretty sure that my job in the summers of my sophomore and junior years of high school were spent working retail.

At Valley View Mall (Steven's Mall), they muct go straight to the store that they work at and must go straight home after work.

[mallguy]

If the goal is to block Northlake from becoming an Eastland, since (1) there are plenty of scary people who are over 18 and (2) thugs also hang out in the mall during the daytime, more will need to be done- more security, kicking out some of the Eastland-style stores on the lower level, etc.

[StevenRocks]

If the goal is to block Northlake from becoming an Eastland, since (1) there are plenty of scary people who are over 18 and (2) thugs also hang out in the mall during the daytime, more will need to be done- more security, kicking out some of the Eastland-style stores on the lower level, etc.

With Eastland becoming a ghost town, it's going to be nearly impossible to stop customer spillover to Northlake (and to a lesser extent, SouthPark and Carolina Place.). With those customers come the undesirables, and all that entails. Maybe the curfew will help, but I (again) don't know how effective it'll be in bringing shoppers back. Valley View Mall has had mixed results at best.

Eliminating the youth/urban oriented stores could slow traffic some, but you run the risk of having empty space that won't be filled, because upscale stores are already falling flat at Northlake and middle class stores aren't expanding in malls as much.

[mallguy]

With Eastland becoming a ghost town, it's going to be nearly impossible to stop customer spillover to Northlake (and to a lesser extent, SouthPark and Carolina Place.). With those customers come the undesirables, and all that entails. Maybe the curfew will help, but I (again) don't know how effective it'll be in bringing shoppers back. Valley View Mall has had mixed results at best.

Eliminating the youth/urban oriented stores could slow traffic some, but you run the risk of having empty space that won't be filled, because upscale stores are already falling flat at Northlake and middle class stores aren't expanding in malls as much.

Sounds like Northlake isn't doing well? Do we have sales figures? What other stores have closed upstairs?

I had limited time in Charlotte during my last visit and went only to Eastland, making the trip after seeing that article in the WSJ.

[StevenRocks]

Sounds like Northlake isn't doing well? Do we have sales figures? What other stores have closed upstairs?

I had limited time in Charlotte during my last visit and went only to Eastland, making the trip after seeing that article in the WSJ.

Northlake is not, repeat, not in trouble. There have been some miscalculations about what stores would appeal to the market along with the general economic problems all malls are facing, but it's not a dead or dying mall.

[malldude85]

Ok so its been about 2 weekends since the mall curfew has been issued and it really doesn't start until this weekend but I've already seen a difference, there are less teens hanging out so the word seems to be catching on fast. As far as sales for the store I work at, I can't really tell its either really up or really down some days. I can give yall a better detail by the end of the month, however as for may we were about 5% down for the month of May. No bad considering March was 28% down. Note that this is for a individual store and not the whole mall. However most store managers around me tell me a similar story that they are also down.

On a similar topic just note that the mall charges the same amount of rent everytime they collect it, so the mall management people are paid pretty good for what little work they do.

[Temeteron]

J. Jill has closed........

[malldude85]

This mall is dying and fast, with the new youth law in effect after 5pm Friday and Saturday its dead and looks like a weekday morning, someone better do something fast cause if they don't they could lose all the department stores and 50% of the other stores.

[nyxmike]

This mall is dying and fast, with the new youth law in effect after 5pm Friday and Saturday its dead and looks like a weekday morning, someone better do something fast cause if they don't they could lose all the department stores and 50% of the other stores.

But were those kids actually buying anything? They made the mall look busier, but I'm sure most of them were just there because they were bored/hanging out, causing trouble, etc. In the future, I can see Northlake looking more like Carolina Place Mall in terms of stores, especially if the Village of Lake Norman/Augustalee development gets built.

[malldude85]

Arden B is now closed and soon to be closed is Caryle and Co. the jewelry store across from The Childrens Place.

[101_ce]

Arden B is now closed and soon to be closed is Caryle and Co. the jewelry store across from The Childrens Place.

Thats sad. The mall is new and is losing so many stores. Its in a good location, but I guess its because of the teenagers and others. Malls are still being built, but not many. It needed to be what it said it was going to be, similar to the nice, unfailing Streets at SouthPoint. But its not, and now its suffering. Hopefully the Mall at Oyster Bay will have a greater sucess. However I am sure that it will do better (1) It is upscale (2) That area probably does not have a lot of trouble (crime & teenagers).