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TTC Charlotte’s To Close End of January

By chris on January 14, 2007

Longtime local favorite Charlotte’s has decided to pull the plug on their Triangle Town Center location and will close at the end of this month. Of course, this should worry no one as their two
other area stores will continue to feed any and all jewelry and gift addictions in Raleigh.

Personally, I am not too surprised by this as TTC just hasn’t become the kind of mall I had hoped it would be. When a mall visit is in order after exhausting my favorite local retailers, I am definitely among the droves of Raleigh residents who either hit Crabtree (due to its proximity) or make the trek over to The Streets of Southpoint in Durham. Many will go on about the demographics of the such-and-such mile radius around the North Raleigh mall, but I don’t think that’s it at all. I mean, come on, they pretty much have all those who have moved up to the Wake Forest area as a captive audience. And one drive around that formerly sleepy little town will quickly reveal there is a whole bunch of money to be spent… unless everyone is house-poor or something. Anyway, my opinion is that the TTC folks immediately shot themselves in the foot before even clearing the first tree from the property. The design of the mall is as bland and energy-sucking as I have ever seen. Not only is the whole dang thing beige inside and out, but the 2nd floor is carpeted which turns the already spooky-empty ambience and deadens it completely.

What’s funny is that every time I’ve been in Saks, you’d think the mall is rather bustling. The place is vibrant and there always seems to be clientele in there. But as soon as you step out of Saks into the mall… poof! It’s all gone. I’ve talked to many a person who freely admits to shopping in Saks but never venturing into the mall itself.

The outside shopping area is nice and I think a few along that corridor are pulling their weight as well. If the developers had taken one hint alone from Southpoint, they would have built this part of the mall first, made it much more interesting than just a simple straight shot, and varied the offerings out there a lot more.

Anyway, this really wasn’t supposed to turn into an evaluation of TTC. That’s a much longer article that needs quite a bit more fleshing out of these opinions with more constructive recommendations. Hrmmmmm, maybe that’ll be coming soon.

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  • Rob

    Don’t forget there was also a shooting at Crabtree a couple of years back. Also, there was a sniper in the North Hills parking lot in the 1970′s. Crime can be anywhere and everywhere at some point so it’s only a matter of time for TCC. Be on guard wherever you shop…worlds full of nuts…and they look like regular folks (scary)!

  • Rob

    Don’t forget there was also a shooting at Crabtree a couple of years back. Also, there was a sniper in the North Hills parking lot in the 1970′s. Crime can be anywhere and everywhere at some point so it’s only a matter of time for TCC. Be on guard wherever you shop…worlds full of nuts…and they look like regular folks (scary)!

  • NCnative

    Durham=Crime is no stereotype. Three weeks into my first job in Durham and I had a dead body outside my office window. Never saw anything like that in eight years of working in downtown Raleigh. I spent five years at that Durham office and was always surprised at the level of gang activity in and around Northgate Mall. South Square Mall closed largely due to the gangs. Now Northgate, I hear, is not safe. I no longer work in Durham, and I don’t miss anything about that city. I still drive daily down Hollaway Street and I would not want to have my car stall there! As for South Point, here’s my story. Two weeks ago, I had dinner at Maggiano’s with my wife. When we came out into the parking lot, it was a sea of young minorities in gang colors. There was also a very healthy dose of police around. Clearly there for control. We were very uncomfortable as we made our way back to our car. It was quite a disturbing site. A neighbor of mine works for the Wake Co. Sheriff’s Dept. He says it’s just a matter of time before merchants start pulling out of South Point because the Durham Police don’t make any real effort to control the situation. Wake Co. law enforcement doesn’t tolerate gangs, and thus very little noticeable gang activity occurs at the Raleigh Malls.

  • NCnative

    Durham=Crime is no stereotype. Three weeks into my first job in Durham and I had a dead body outside my office window. Never saw anything like that in eight years of working in downtown Raleigh. I spent five years at that Durham office and was always surprised at the level of gang activity in and around Northgate Mall. South Square Mall closed largely due to the gangs. Now Northgate, I hear, is not safe. I no longer work in Durham, and I don’t miss anything about that city. I still drive daily down Hollaway Street and I would not want to have my car stall there! As for South Point, here’s my story. Two weeks ago, I had dinner at Maggiano’s with my wife. When we came out into the parking lot, it was a sea of young minorities in gang colors. There was also a very healthy dose of police around. Clearly there for control. We were very uncomfortable as we made our way back to our car. It was quite a disturbing site. A neighbor of mine works for the Wake Co. Sheriff’s Dept. He says it’s just a matter of time before merchants start pulling out of South Point because the Durham Police don’t make any real effort to control the situation. Wake Co. law enforcement doesn’t tolerate gangs, and thus very little noticeable gang activity occurs at the Raleigh Malls.

  • http://jasonbgraves.blogspot.com/ jbgraves

    We own part of the Fonville Morisey kiosk in TTC and traffic in the main corridor has not been all that great. With the opening of of 540 we have been told to expect a traffic increase of some 30%… Time will tell.

  • http://jasonbgraves.blogspot.com/ jbgraves

    We own part of the Fonville Morisey kiosk in TTC and traffic in the main corridor has not been all that great. With the opening of of 540 we have been told to expect a traffic increase of some 30%… Time will tell.

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