As in every city, Saturday is prime shopping time in Memphis. Like the Galleria Mall in Houston or the Mall of America outside the Twin Cities in Minnesota, shoppers fill retail establishments all over the city looking for the best clothes at the biggest bargains. But depending on your style, shopping in Memphis can be different than just about any city in America.
When you walk in the Galleria in Houston, anyone can buy inside the massive shopping giant. Regardless of your style and the amount of money you want to spend, you can literally shop till you drop. The same cannot be said in Memphis where, unless you are from Memphis, you suffer from being unaware of where to shop outside of the mall scene in the city. With only two malls offering real shopping experiences, the Wolfchase Galleria and Oak Court Mall, shoppers will become fluent in the culture of retail in Memphis as it broadens itself into a shopping culture that has devalued the closed-end mall scene for open-air retail centers for the best trends around.
Whether you are looking for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan or Dooney, the options are endless if you know where to look. And in Memphis that does not include the malls. Even though they have solid stores like Brooks Brothers and the standards like Macy’s and JC Penny, the best places to shop are the new Avenue at Carriage Crossings in Collierville or the Southaven Town Center, an open air retail destination in Southaven, MS. These retail centers have redefined shopping in Memphis with their open-air experience which is completely new to most shoppers in Memphis.
The first open-air retail center was Saddle Creek in Germantown. But what Saddle Creek did not have and the two new centers do is big box retailers like Dillard’s, Gordman’s and Circuit City. Most open-air retail centers pushed storefronts with larger space like Old Navy and Motherhood Maternity, but now with more acreage upon which to build, retailers are doing things a bit differently.
With the two new open-air malls setting the standard they are not alone for the best places to shop in or near Memphis, TN. If you have time to waste, the Casino Factory Outlet Shoppes in Tunica, MS near the casinos is a rich retail center. With outlet stores by Wilsons, Oshkosh B’Gosh, Carter and Nautica, the Casino Factory Outlet Shoppes gives Mid-South shoppers a chance to get brand-name clothing without the brand-name prices. While it is a decent drive from most of Memphis, if you are planning on doing back to school shopping or your holiday gift getting, the Casino Factory Outlet Shoppes’ drive will be made up for in savings.
When it first opened, Peabody Place in Downtown Memphis offered a nice collection of stores. However, with traffic slowing down, the best stores have left Peabody Place and sought greener pastures like the one just off Bill Morris Parkway and Winchester. With population continuing to push further east and south of the heart of Memphis the best places to shop will continue to follow where the people are. Oak Court Mall is the premiere place to shop in Memphis along with its sister site, the Lauralwood Shopping Center right across the street at Poplar and Perkins. But with congestion and time such a premium the new upstarts are presenting new options and stores that Memphis shoppers have never seen before.
Such is what took place at the Avenue Carriage Crossings in Collierville when they opened a Parisian store. A scaled-down version of Saks 5th Avenue, Parisian entered the Memphis market with a great deal of fanfare as upscale shoppers had a new shopping destination that did not include boarding an airplane and flying to New York City. While over time Parisian decided to move, what the Avenue Carriage Crossings presented was an opportunity for Memphis shoppers they had not had before.
What has made Lauralwood such a destination place the last thirty years is the fact that none of its stores can be found anywhere else in the city. It is hope to the only James Davis store in Memphis. It also has the sole Talbots in the market. That alone makes it a must for shoppers looking for the latest fashions on the rack.
If you are a shopping enthusiast, bargains and quality fashion go hand in hand. You cannot get one without the other. The best places to shop offer what no other retail centers can, high quality clothing and an experience to boot. That is why people avoid the Southland Mall in Whitehaven and the Raleigh Springs Mall in the northeast section of the city. It is also why the Hickory Ridge Mall will soon see its life quenched. It cannot compete with the new retail centers opening up just a couple of miles away.
