Expressions

I grew up in Chapel Hill, went to UNC, and now work just outside of town, and I’ve relied on Expressions so many times for incense, shisha, jewelry, etc. I’ve never had a bad experience there — all the employees I’ve encountered are not only completely awesome people, but they’re all extremely knowledgeable and the customer service is absolutely unparalleled! Not only will everyone go way out of their way to help you with your selections, but they’ll treat you like a friend while doing it.
I should point out that while Expressions did also operate a hookah bar right next door, that place closed in the spring of 2011 — absolutely tragic, considering the dearth of hookah lounges since the indoor smoking ban. The Expressions store, however, is most definitely still there.
For a while, their shisha selection was cheap, but not quite top-​notch. Over the past year or so, however, they’ve started carrying some more major brands, which I really appreciate.
In my heart, Expressions is worth five stars — but they *still* don’t take cards, which is kind of a big issue if you’re not carrying around cash. On the bright side, there is an ATM inside the store, so you can withdraw from an account on a debit card… but if all you’ve got is a credit card, you’re out of luck.
So, basically, Expressions is a fantastic experience — just make sure you’re carrying some cash, and you’ll be impressed.

I was an undergrad in Asheville and, any of you who have visited that lovely little city, know what that means. Wiiiink. Asheville has some of the the best hippie-​style head shops I’ve ever seen, like Octopus Garden and Instant Karma, with some of the most gorgeous locally blown glass you’ll find anywhere.
I’m far away from my undergrad days, but I still like to unwind on occasion, so it is a real treat to have a great place like Expressions in the area, particularly with such a surprising dearth of places like it in the Triangle. (I guess the RDU /​CH college kids are super serious about their studies?)
Expressions knows how to dominate the college scene, with locations in Boone, Greenville (ECU), Wilmington, Greensboro, and Salisbury (Catawba, Livingstone) and they often offer their (mostly) young patrons beautiful locally blown glass, along with some adult novelties. They also sell K2 incense, and apparently they used to sell salvia divinorum, so get your K2 before the NC General Assembly buzzkills ban it like they did salvia.
Expressions also features live music — hip hop, freestyle DJ, rock, indie, etc. — in their hookah lounge, which was just opened in 2010. You can catch some amazing local live acts here, like Kangaroo (
) and Zayd Malik (
)
And Expressions runs food drives, too, each year for charity. Apparently in 2010 they collected 7,214 pounds of food, or 6,075 meals. A dogooder head shop, now that’s something I can get behind!
Expressions is located around back at the Franklin Street Market, on the Rosemary St. side.