Renaissance Center at Southpoint

Grest selections in anchor stores. Nordstrom being the High Line. Parking is a problem here, you can drive around for 15 minutes on the weekend before you find a parking spot.

Though I didn’t know the name of it until about 2 minutes ago, I spend at least as much time and money at Renaissance Center as I do at Southpoint. I really can’t go to the mall without making a stop here, as well. There are a lot of great stores, my favorites being Ulta, World Market, and REI. However, all the other big corporate stores here can be found elsewhere in Chapel Hill, in places with much less traffic. Renaissance Center has plenty of parking, but the traffic pattern is just bizarre and ineffective. I guess the only other negative is that there aren’t a few more local businesses, but I’m sure that rent is astronomical and, besides, the whole Southpoint area lends itself really well to big, popular chains.

When Southpoint Mall cropped up, many area shopping centers followed. Of all of them, this is the closest, biggest, and best. Besides offering alternatives to the restaurants at Southpoint (they have big-​box PF Changs, Melting Pot, Moe’s, and Johnny Carino’s, but also cute little Bakehouse Bistro), they also have some essential chains: Ulta, Linens N Things, REI, Best Buy, even a David’s Bridal. I personally love that Pier One and World Market are practically next door to one another, so you can do one-​stop shopping for home goods. I opt for this Starbucks over the Fayetteville Road one since it’s a bit larger. Also check out the wine shop for a posh place to buy a bottle and have some conversation. I hear Healing Waters Day Spa (one of only two in the country) is amazing, but I’ve yet to allow myself the splurge!

Are we calling this whole shopping center a single place? You know what, sure, let’s. We will consider this shopping center to be a singular entity, kind of like «Germans» or «Inuit Needlepoint Fans.» If this is a good idea, then I surely have lost my head for what bad ideas are.
The Renaissance Center has many stores of different varieties, which can surely combine in new and interesting ways. If, for example, purchasing new makeup fills you with a hunger for bison flesh, this is the shopping center for you. It is efficient, in a ‘consumer whore’ sort of way. Go for it.

This is a great strip mall just across from Southpoint Mall. There some additional restaurants such as: PF Changs– one of my favorites (I love their Hot Fish), The Healthy Back store, The Christian bookstore, Old Navy, Moe’s, Ted’s Montana Grill, Gerard’s Jewelers, Bakehouse Bistro, a Nail shop to get that manicure/​pedicure you’ve been itching for, Pier 1 & World Market are just a small of fraction of what’s over there.

If you’ve been to Southpoint and you thought, man, I sure do wish there were more stores… well, come across the street to Renaissance Center shopping center. Okay, I’m kind of joking. It seems to be the thing nowadays for malls to be surrounded by other auxiliary shopping centers with bigger chain stores. In this case, I think, it works, because the big chains they have are my faves — World Market, Ulta, P.F. Chang, Pier 1, Best Buy… plus some local businesses, both retail and service, as well as a few restaurants (Moe’s, Ted’s Montana Grill, the local Bakehouse Bistro). I’m over here a lot running errands and going nuts on the Stila makeup at Ulta.