Arbor Walk Shopping Center

A nice variety of shops. Most of the time it’s clean and you can almost always find parking. however, the parking lot itself (getting in and out of) is a bigger pain than I sometimes feel like dealing with. It isn’t something that can be fixed at this point, but they could have figured this out long before it was too late.
Traffic in this strip is simply unbearable at times.
As of now, the main attraction here, for me, is Natural Grocers. I used to shop at Avenue before they closed. :(I will catch myself in Marshalls, Joann’s, Carter’s, and Sport Clips (now). A nice way to kill some time.

The parking lot is awful. If I must go there, I try to do it early on a week day when the lot is empty, because once in, if it’s busy, you may never get out.

It’s a pleasant place to get your shopping done. There’s a good mix of big brand name anchor stores with smaller retailers, as well as places to eat. The Arbor Walk location, which is near the intersection of Mopac and 183, is extremely convenient. I often come here for places like JoAnn, Home Consignment Center, Spec’s, Natural Grocer, and Marshall’s. If you haven’t been to Sam Moon before, go at least once.
The parking really isn’t bad; I always find a spot, but you just need to learn to enter the lot on the side where you’re shopping so you don’t have to drive allllll the way across the shopping center.

I was once trapped in the parking lot for over an hour due to traffic. There was not an accident, simply a poorly designed development.
1 extra star for Lupe, Specs, and Mighty Fine.
Avoid if possible!

I was shopping with my wife this past Sunday (Nov. 17, 2013) and witnessed first hand how Arbor Walk security staff refused to take any action for a dog in distress locked in a hot car.
The temp inside the car was up over 105 F – the dog was in distress for over ½ hr and I went to 4 different establishments imploring staff to page or find the owner among their patrons.
Before dialing police, staff from one store called mall security while I stood by.
Arbor Walk security refused to respond in any way to our request for help the animal in distress.
I’m glad Austin police responded in a timely manner. But I find it repellent that Arbor Walk security refused to aid an animal in distress in their own parking lot.
Shop someplace else!

The absolutely worst designed shopping area I have ever seen. One way in, one way out and a constant line of cars, very dangerous for pedestrians. You can tell they chose the architect with the lowest bid.

They really have some important shops here including Home Depot, Spec’s and DSW but why can’t they get a restaurant that doesn’t totally suck? It’s all pretend and Olive Garden like. Whenever I go to this place I feel exceptionally white. In the future I hope that Simon will figure out that in Austin they need to do better at pretending this isn’t actually a mall.

They have a great variety of shops and places to dine in such a small designated area, it’s really impressive! The traffic flow is great here but also very well organized. It’s a nice place to drop by and get things done, then get out and grab a quick bite to eat before you head home.

I love all the stores in this shopping center, but just like other reviews have stated, the parking lot is ridiculous and it can get awfully crowded at peak hours. I usually try to shop here around 10am on weekdays right when all the stores open and it isn’t too much of an issue.

Other than the Domain, the smartest Real Estate investment! I love this place! Seems everyone loves this place. It gets VERY crowded. Another good place for people watching, especially at Lupe’s! Oh, one more thing! Listen people, if the cop is sitting at the exit blocking the far right lane for N. Mopac feeder, it means YOU DON’T HAVE TO STOP AND YIELD!!! THE COP IS BLOCKING ON COMING TRAFFIC. JUST PULL OUT AND DRIVE MORON!!!

After repeated bouts of constant traffic backups at this shopping center, I have finally decided to boycott Arbor Walk until they do something about the poor design. Seriously, something is wrong with your parking lot if you need POLICE there to facilitate people leaving…
It’s a shame too, Red Brick Pizza, Potbelly’s, Tino’s, Mighty Fine, etc. are great places to eat lunch…

Five stars for the awesomeness that is Spec’s.
Minus three for the parking lot from Hades and Mighty Expensive Average Burgers.

PARKING SUCKS!!!
Two exits??? wth? Well the secret third exit is next door to HD leading out to the Domain… but everyone knows about it now! Not so much of a secret anymore.
Parking was bad before on weekends and holidays… but holey moley, whose idea was it to place Sam Moon right smack in the middle??? Trying to exit past the country women in their fake head to toe rhinestone garb is ridiculous!
Update.last weekend they even had the Austin PD guiding traffic into the parking lot. What a waste of resources of our finest!
Only pros: I like Mimis and the Consignment store and that Home Depot has a great nursery!
Cons: Read above… too many to list!

I wrote a review for this place yesterday but then deleted it because I didn’t like it.
So here we go. The parking lot is redic. It really does not make any sense. I even decided to go her right before christmas once. Now there is a Sam Moon which makes it 1000 times worse.
Now on the brighter side they do have two of my favorite stores. They have Marshall’s and a super Spec’s. I feel like a VIP when I go to these stores because they recongnize me and the doors come open as soon as I walk in front of them. SWEET!

:Begin rant:
This is the worst-​engineered shopping center in North America, it seems.
1. If you’re heading west on Braker, there’s no way to turn left into the shopping center. You have to go around the world and up your ass [read: You have to turn left on MoPac, then make a u-​turn at Cap of Texas hwy]. I know you don’t have the clearance to have a left-​turn lane built into Braker, but you could have at least researched a better intersection for your shopping center. Getting residual traffic from The Domain is not a good-​enough excuse for building the labyrinth here. Whoever designed this place must be the same idiot who times traffic lights in Austin.
Matt B said it best in his review, «There’s three entrances, and wherever you are in the city is pretty much going to dictate which entrance you go into…»
2. Related to #1, if I wanna go to Mimi’s (which I admit is rare), and I’m coming from the north or east, the ONLY way I can get there is by traveling all the way through the badly laid-​out parking lot and dealing with pedestrians and drivers who checked their brains at the entrance, as if they were coats.
3. Related to #2, it seems to me that most Austinites leave their brains and good attitudes at home when they get in their cars, preferring to replace their brains with water balloons, and their good attitudes with overly-​entitled, narcissistic attitudes, and this is especially evident at Arbor Walk.
One example is the other dimension known as the four-​way stop near Home Depot and Sam Moon. Without fail, some «privileged», narcissistic, water balloon-​brained dumb-​ass runs the stop sign or proceeds out of turn. This could happen at no other stop sign in town, but it happens at this one regularly. Did I miss the «Drive asshole-​y» sign at the shopping center entrance? I’ve considered outfitting my car in iron and donning brass knuckles when I come here, because you deserve to be crunched by my iron-​clad car if you run that fucking stop sign or proceed out of turn. You fucking asshole.
4. Dunno if anyone else ever experiences this here, but it seems that half the times I go here, one of the typical water balloon-​brained bovine will park in the fire lane that lines the only driving lane in the entire shopping center. As a result, no one on that side can pass because of the constant flow of traffic going the other direction, and traffic is therefore backed up until Miss Bovine USA gets her $ 27.99 prom dress from Dress Barn.
You’re not that special. You don’t get to create your own parking spot by illegally parking in the fire lane, and then get pissed off when people rightfully honk at you as you’re packing your thousands of gift boxes into your Hummer. And, yeah, I’m the one who called security and reported your worthless ass. Doubtful they finished their Mighty «Fine» burgers in time to ticket you, though. Amazing how the rent-​a-​cops constantly and conveniently look the other way when shit like this happens. Makes me wish Arbor Walk was a giant fly trap, and that all the idiots would then be caught and thrown away, never to bother anyone else on the road again.
5. The fact that you have Spec’s, JoAnn, and Pot Belly Subs does not excuse you from hiring someone with a brain bigger than a pea to design your shopping center. I nearly cursed (shocker) my own mother for wanting to eat Mother’s Day lunch at Mimi’s on Saturday, the busiest day of the week. And guess what? Yep, the stop sign. Twice.
I refuse to go to your half-​assed shopping center on a weekend. And you’ll notice that I never go to any of your other malls, Simon. But at least your actual mall parking lots aren’t nearly as fucked up as this one, and I can actually get into said parking lots without adding 200 miles and a brand new tank of gas to my car each time.
:End rant:

I have found that the only decent time to come here is early morning on a weekday. Otherwise, you’re screwed. You can’t get in, you can’t get out. There are lines of cars everywhere at a dead stop… especially on a Saturday! I’m not sure how the businesses there survive.
Currently, they are building a new stand alone building on the property, maybe a new restaurant? Either way, I’m thinking it is not going to be helping the traffic situation any.
I think they need to look at re-​designing the flow of traffic.

An absolute nightmare for ingress and egress. Took a late lunch and went to Mighty Fine Burgers. Parking lot was only about ²⁄₃ full. The single set of lanes down which traffic proceeds was gridlocked both directions, and it took me 45 minutes to leave their lot and get back on the road.
Inept design and placement of this mall. Will do everything I can to avoid in the future.

Avoid this place like the plague. Yes, it has attractive stores like Spec’s. The problem with this shopping center is that they forgot to put any ways to get in or out of it in the plans. There are 2 exits, neither of which are accessible. I spent a full hour waiting to try to get out of the parking lot on Dec 31^st. Nothing is worth waiting an hour in a line of cars trying to get to one of 2 inaccessible exit/​entrances. So, if you go, be warned you won’t be able to easily leave. And make sure you have used the restroom before leaving in case you are trapped for an hour in your car like I was.

Negatives
1. Misnomer — no one «walks» here.
2. Hideously dangerous Feng Shui because the energy from 360 would completely dead end into the Arbor Walk if it were not stopped by 183.
3. Constant buzz of traffic.
4. Lots of concrete.
Positives
1. Super bold trellis action with extra extra large wood members above each store front. «Arbor».
2. Home Consignment Center
3. Home Depot
4. Potbelly’s — I once ate at a Potbelly’s in an airport and it was excellent.

Just south of the Domain lies a less pretentious, less expansive, less expensive shopping center called Arbor Walk. I’ve been here a couple of times on random ventures and it doesn’t really stand out among shopping centers.
There are a few restaurants (Camille’s Sidewalk Café, Mimi’s, and Chuck E. Cheese) and some major chain stores (Marshalls, Circuit City, Dress Barn, JoAnn Fabrics, etc.). Opening soon is a sandwich chain… sorry, don’t remember the name… that looks intriguing, I’ll probably visit once it opens. The shops that I visited were (obviously) new and clean. It seems to me that although these places are still new, the cleanliness factor may be kept up, due to the location… at least for a few years.
It’s not quite an Arbor Walk yet, apparently the Simon corporation didn’t want to spring for full grown trees, so youngling trees line the sidewalks. Also, not-​so-​conspicuously hidden Bose speakers are along the sidewalks. The volume is pretty low, making it irritating to walk by, hearing music, then not hearing any until you pass another tree.
I can see great things for this shopping center in the future!