Concord Mills 10 Years Old (Charlotte, Raleigh: house, buying, movies)

[lumbollo]

If memory serves me correctly then this week or next is Concord Mills 10 year anniversary of opening. Opening day was actually delayed by a day due to the weather forecasters thinking a hurricane was going to hit Charlotte, but it instead went to the Raleigh area. This mall has been billed as NC's biggest tourist attractions in terms of attendance. It was originally opened by the Mills Corporation which has since ceased to exist and it now owned by some Canadian corporation.

I was in this mall on Monday and have noticed that in the past few years the place had gone downscale a great deal from the days when Mills operated it. Mills had sunk a great deal of money in the place and there were a number of "upscale" stores in there that are now gone. The days of the huge plasma screens with the people on Mills TV are long gone. In fact the place is looking a bit ratty now and reminds me of the Freedom Mall (which most of you probably are not familiar with) by the mid-80s.

IMO, they need to get rid of that Charlotte Hornet's teal colored carpet which is looking quite ratty and do something about the faded lime, lavender and mauve psychedelic paint on the outside. These are colors from the days of Bill Clinton. Maybe it's a metaphor for the de-evolution of American society in general. The place is really a distribution center for the Communist Party of China as there is nothing American made in there now. Kinda ironic given it's target demographic.

bleh. Maybe this is why nobody is celebrating it's birthday. Forget I mentioned it.

[Orangeish]

Anyone else have a problem with a mall being billed a tourist attraction? I guess the Mall of America in MN can get away with it, but how is Concord Mills a tourist destination? I did not see how the CM looked 5 years ago, but I wouldn't consider it too awful ratty, I think it looks alright in there.

Where was the Freedom Mall?

[lumbollo]

Originally Posted by Orangeish

....Where was the Freedom Mall?

On Freedom Drive close to I-85. Opened in 1977.

[WHM1]

I would not go there if I could get my purchase free!! What a nightmare !! the traffic getting in and out of there... The Bass Pro Shop is the only decent store still there... the rest are junk shops... or maybe flea market stores.

[pantherfan101]

If you want to see the future of Concord Mills, visit Discover Mills in Gwinnett, GA (just north of Atlanta on I-85). It is a depressing mall with lots of empty stores and ones that seem out of place to actually be in a store slot vs. a kiosk. We were there on a Saturday night and did not feel safe with the packs of hoodlums walking around.

[Sepulgeek]

Hopefully the mall wont go downhill too much. I plan on going to the AMC for my movies when I finally move to Concord. I did notice 2 perfume stores and a perfume kiosk. Are there that many people buying that stuff to warranty that many stores?

[Metallisteve]

I think it's alright as far as malls come. And living in the Mallard Creek area affords a Bat Cave-like back entrance to the place that avoids 85 and Bruton-I'll-Sue-You Blvd altogether.

As for the Chinese distribution center, it's not fair to lump Concord Mills into one guilty party of its own. I challenge someone to go to ANY store today and find a predominantly USA-made section! In fact, Bass Pro Shop may be the just such a place in the guns and ammo department!

[lumbollo]

Originally Posted by Metallisteve

.....
As for the Chinese distribution center, it's not fair to lump Concord Mills into one guilty party of its own. ....

Nobody said it was fair. If it was fair, American workers would not be devalued to the point of competing against the peasants of 3rd world communists and dictatorships. Lenin, Stalin, Mao are all laughing in their graves at the silly Americans who have sold themselves out to the communists. On the other hand, the average communist is probably better educated than the average American these days.

I do agree the dichotomy that exists in Bass Pro Shops between the consumers, the producers and what the consumers hold dear will be the subject of study of some future generation that survives the mess. Kinda like the study of 1984 in AP English classes when they still read real books.

[Carolina Blue]

Originally Posted by lumbollo

If memory serves me correctly then this week or next is Concord Mills 10 year anniversary of opening. Opening day was actually delayed by a day due to the weather forecasters thinking a hurricane was going to hit Charlotte, but it instead went to the Raleigh area. This mall has been billed as NC's biggest tourist attractions in terms of attendance. It was originally opened by the Mills Corporation which has since ceased to exist and it now owned by some Canadian corporation.

I was in this mall on Monday and have noticed that in the past few years the place had gone downscale a great deal from the days when Mills operated it. Mills had sunk a great deal of money in the place and there were a number of "upscale" stores in there that are now gone. The days of the huge plasma screens with the people on Mills TV are long gone. In fact the place is looking a bit ratty now and reminds me of the Freedom Mall (which most of you probably are not familiar with) by the mid-80s.

IMO, they need to get rid of that Charlotte Hornet's teal colored carpet which is looking quite ratty and do something about the faded lime, lavender and mauve psychedelic paint on the outside. These are colors from the days of Bill Clinton. Maybe it's a metaphor for the de-evolution of American society in general. The place is really a distribution center for the Communist Party of China as there is nothing American made in there now. Kinda ironic given it's target demographic.

bleh. Maybe this is why nobody is celebrating it's birthday. Forget I mentioned it.

What upscale stores closed? I do know a mens store closed some time ago, I think Perry Ellis. But they've added stores like BCBG and Coach recently, and they're adding addidas and Lego soon. From what I've heard Concord Mills is actually doing well from a business perspective, in fact, very well. Typcially when malls "go down" its due to declining business factors. Such as Eastland Mall. I don't see Concord Mills in the same category as places like Eastland or Freedom malls at all.

[chicagomichauds]

Legoland is already there. I don't remember Coach but we were shopping over the tax free weekend for kids' clothes.

It's an outlet mall, right? So it's gonna have a huge volume of traffic and people. There was an outlet mall near my house in Illinois, and a lot of people wouldn't be caught dead going there. Frankly I got a lot of good discounts for myself.