In the year 2002 there were five malls that opened in the United States. Two of those were in the Triangle. The massive introduction of retail opportunities, especially those offered by Streets at Southpoint, presented Crabtree Valley Mall with their biggest challenge yet. Six years later, the mall is making giant strides toward the high end and the ability to attract regional shoppers.

TBJ reported last week many interesting developments at the mall. New stores coming are Try Sports, Diamonds Direct, Clarks (which will stock children’s shoes as well), Ticknors, Lush, and Teavana. Crabtree & Evelyn will relocate while Coach, American Eagle, Buckle, Foot Locker, Wet Seal, Oakley, Zales, and GameStop are redesigning their stores. In fact, American Eagle’s new design will be the second location using a new prototype.

I am intrigued by the remodeling of Coach. One of my favorite things to pass the time in fine malls has been to step in the Coach store and just smell it. The leather in all of those stores is incredible and the scent takes me back to my beloved baseball glove on hot summer days as a child. Coach opened their Crabtree store in a space adjacent to the Kanki, and sadly, the store has always smelled like Japanese food. I love the Kanki, but I don’t want to smell it in a leather store. When Coach decided to remodel, they moved to a temporary location next to the Disney Store. Unfortunately, their plan is to return to their old spot, right next to the Kanki. Hopefully the new store will have a better ventilation system.

The most interesting aspect of the TBJ article, however, is the revelation by sources that the mall has been in talks with Neiman Marcus. The mall currently has no space for the store. Could this mean that Sears, one of the mall’s few remaining original tenants, is on its way out? Quite possibly. Since the merger of Sears and K Mart, the long-term plans for the company have been muddy. It appears that the company wants to emphasize its free standing Sears Grand and Sears Appliance & Hardware stores, and move away from mall settings. The store does not necessarily jibe with Crabtree’s high-end approach, too.

Another interesting recent development is the redesign of the Crabtree Place development. The birds-eye rendering was pulled from Weingarten Realty’s website, and a very vague street-level rendering is now posted. At one point there was a proposal for Crabtree to expand to the south, bridging its second level over Crabtree Creek to a fifth anchor store. Nordstrom was the subject then, but could Neiman Marcus be in the cards for a connected Crabtree Place? Nothing would surprise me. When Neiman Marcus was added to Atlanta’s Lenox Square mall, the mall grew over to it. I have to add, though, that Neiman Marcus would have been a perfect free-standing anchor for my proposed Crabtree overhaul. (cough cough).

Crabtree will welcome three high end chain restaurants this fall on the parking deck extension between Belk and Barnes & Noble. McCormick & Schmick’s, Brio Tuscan Grille, and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar will be joining all-star tenants Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s and Kanki on the Glenwood frontage. Rumors still abound about the vertical expansion of Barnes & Noble. A two story store actually appears in the artist’s video rendering of the project.

While Crabtree has made some inefficient decisions in recent years, their ability to remain as one of the most highly sought-after malls in the South deserves much praise. They have faced the challenges of newcomers well, and the future looks bright in the valley.