Southpoint Mall
by Julia Zhang

The long awaited Southpoint Mall has finally opened.  In early November, Hechts had its grand opening in time for holiday shoppers.  This 1.3 million square foot shopping center located in Durham started construction in the summer of 2000 and was scheduled to be open for the Christmas season of 2001, but it was delayed till the spring of this year.  However, the setback does come to the relief of South Square Mall, which will be forced to close upon the formal opening of Southpoint Mall since it would not be able to compete.

This much anticipated mall boasts 130 different shops, restaurants, and outdoor entertainment districts including the usual: Hudson Belk, JCPenney, Gap, American Eagle, Express, Guess, as well as newer additions to the Triangle area such as Nordstrom and Ethan Allen.  During the shopping excursion, one can enjoy one of the conventional fast-food eateries or one of the newer places such as Johnny Rocket and Gordon Biersch.   After a day of shopping, one could catch a movie at Southpoint Cinemas, which will offer 16 screens.

Durham hopes that the opening of Southpoint, which is said to be even larger than Crabtree Valley mall in Raleigh, will attract more people to its area.  Following the confirmation of the plan, more plans for offices and other buildings began to arise with hopes that the new mall would bring increased business around the area.  However some Durham residents faced the Southpoint project with opposition.  Because of the location, some residents feared that the mall would stop up traffic.  To ease their apprehensions, the road was expanded to improve the flow of traffic.  The road construction, which spanned over about a year, was completed earlier this fall and promises smoother passage in and out of the mall.

The Streets of Southpoint, which a opened on March 8, 2002, attracting numerous shoppers from all over.