Friendly Center

After a very disappointing visit to Four Seasons recently, I have a new appreciation for Friendly Center. The Belk has been remodeled, and is much cooler now that the one at Four Seasons has closed. They carry some of the better name brands, and the makeup counter selection is good.
I have visited most of the stores at Friendly, and u have had no issues thus far. The Ben and Jerrys at one of the entrances makes the outdoor feel inviting.
Also, the best Harris Teeter in Greensboro is here.

The oldest and best mall in Greensboro (formerly a Starmount property; now owned by CBL). The only Macy’s, the only Belk, the only Sears, the only Whole Foods, the only Brooks Brothers, the only Barnes & Noble, the only Apple Store, the only REI. .. you get the picture. The common areas of this «lifestyle center» don’t suffer from the overflow of socializing mall rats that helped to drive Carolina Circle, Oak Hollow Mall, and Four Seasons Town Centre to the brink (or beyond), in large part because they are outside (though there are often panhandlers on the periphery). Some specialty stores that have located here have not made it, but others appear to do quite well.
Dillard’s, JC Penney, and H&M seem to be the only major holdouts hanging on at the remaining enclosed mall in town, Four Seasons. If you need to visit Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, IKEA, Restoration Hardware, etc., you will have to trek to the Triangle, Charlotte, or beyond, but otherwise, this is the place.

If you live in greensboro, then you already know that friendly center is where it’s at. This is the premier destination for shopping, trumping four seasons mall by a wide margin. It is an outdoor shopping center, so the downside is that you do have to drive around if you want to go from store to store (if they aren’t side by side or nearby) BUT in a way, that’s also friendly center’s attraction: you can park right outside the store you want to go to, versus mall parking where you have to walk in the mall and walk awhile to get to that store.
Traffic in friendly center is also not ideal, lots of stops, right of way, etc. and during holiday season, it gets crazy here so avoid prime hours on weekends!

The Shops at Friendly Center, adjacent to Friendly Center, have many shops to choose from so it makes it easy and convenient for all your shopping needs. There are a variety of shops to choose from to enjoy whether it’s for your basic needs or just to walk around to buy something nice for yourself or someone else. During your shopping excursion there are several restaurants from a wide variety to choose from for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Enjoy my friends!

Average shopping center, usual stores apple, white house black market, dsw, vickies, belk, macys, etc.

I think this is a nice little outdoor shopping center. It contains many different major retail and restaurant chains including an Apple store, Buckle, Eddie Bauer, Ben & Jerry’s, Gap, J. Crew, Jason’s Deli, Mimi’s Café, Brooks Brothers, Old Navy, Sephora, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, and others. I also really enjoyed visiting the spice shop and the oil and vinegar boutique, nerdy cook that I am.
However, I wish that the signage for getting around was better. Some shops can be difficult to find since they are tucked in a corner. Also, I would have liked to have seen more signs pointing to the major stores in the area as well, since this is a pretty large area to explore. Also, the traffic here can be pretty bad during peak times and therefore it can be quite a task to walk on the crosswalk because drivers here more often than not do not yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk and I feel that I have to channel my northeastern aggression be more aggressive when it comes to that so I am able to cross safely.
Other than that, it’s a pretty decent shopping center. I would highly recommend it.

Map
What is here
I avoid shopping centers like a dude who is forced to go shoe shopping with his woman. But this may be the classiest, ritziest shopping center in the area.
Of course this is split into two centers essentially. The older original Friendly Center and The Shops at Friendly which has been up for however many years.
Parking for The Shops at Friendly is a total pain in the ass and I can’t imagine coming here during holidays. There is also only one entrance/​exit as well. It would be a total cluster you know what.
Pro tip: The patio/​courtyard behind Ben & Jerry’s has a dude (or two) that comes out every Sunday from 2 – 9. He has an amp that plays music with familiar mainstream songs. Accompanying this, he has a snare drum set and he will beat along with music. He is pretty damn good too. He will take breaks every so often and let kids beat on his drums and play along. This patio fills up with people that take a break from everything and sit and watch/​listen. I imagine this will bring folks to Ben & Jerry’s too.
Yep.

Map
What is here
I avoid shopping centers like a dude who is forced to go shoe shopping with his woman. But this may be the classiest, ritziest shopping center in the area.
Of course this is split into two centers essentially. The older original Friendly Center and The Shoppes at Friendly which has been up for however many years.
Parking for The Shoppes at Friendly is a total pain in the ass and I can’t imagine coming here during holidays. There is also only one entrance/​exit as well. It would be a total cluster you know what.
Pro tip: The patio/​courtyard behind Ben & Jerry’s has a dude (or two) that comes out every Sunday from 2 – 9. He has an amp that plays music with familiar mainstream songs. Accompanying this, he has a snare drum set and he will beat along with music. He is pretty damn good too. He will take breaks every so often and let kids beat on his drums and play along. This patio fills up with people that take a break from everything and sit and watch/​listen. I imagine this will bring folks to Ben & Jerry’s too.
Yep.

We briefly stopped here to go to DSW but can not WAIT to return and explore some more! Unfortunately it was a rainy day and we had our baby with us so walking around this open-​air mall was not an option.
We were VERY impressed with the classiness of the buildings and the awesome store selection including but not limited to: Apple store, Anthropologie, Ben & Jerry’s, Bruggers Bagels, Buckle, Carter’s, Cold Stone, DSW, Express, Gap, J. Crew, Jason’s Deli, Motherhood Maternity, Old Navy, Sephora, Starbucks, Teavana, Ulta, Victoria’s Secret, White House Black Market, Whole Foods, Williams Sonoma and Yankee Candle. There is even a movie theater here as well as grocery stores!
A negative seemed to be the traffic flow… I can not even imagine how awful it would be at Christmas time. Luckily we found close parking to DSW but man, people drive like lunatics around there. We nearly got clipped by some idiot driving WAY TOO FAST through the parking lot. UGH!
LOOKING FORWARD TO COMING BACK ON A NICE SUNNY DAY!!!

I have been coming to this shopping center for over forty years. My father use to own friendly center hair care which use to be beside the sweet shop bakery and Fleet Plummer back when it was a hardware store.
Starmount and company has done a good job keeping this shopping center up to date, current and inviting. Back in the 70’s I enjoyed eating at Jays and Text & Shirley’s, it’s nice that some family businesses are still in business.
This is a very large onen air shopping center. Lots and lots of shops, stores and restaurants as well as lots of parking.

They have traffic people directing traffic at the busy Christmad times and they have trolleys also at certain times.