Carr Mill Mall

What it is: There's still a chill in the air and snowflakes falling from the sky.  We would love to get outside, but we haven't been been able to head outside much or for very long.  Even though the weather is cold, our family still wanted to get out and do a little adventuring this weekend.  So, we headed down to Carrboro to do a little exploring.  We really love the feel of Carrboro, but we haven't been able to spend as much time there as we would like.

So, Saturday morning we landed at Carr Mill Mall.  It's a small mall with a couple of shops and a few fun places to explore.  The mall has several specialty clothing stores as well as a gift store, a travel store, a bead store, and more.  Our first stop Saturday was the toy store, Ali Cat.  If your child likes Playmobil toys then this store is the place for you.  There's a good selection of books, board books and regular, in English and Spanish. There were also aisles filled with a variety of unique toys and games. 

After our trip to the toy store we stopped by Elmo's Diner for a bite to eat for lunch.  We had only been to the Durham location before, and this version was very similar and equally tasty with the exact same menu as the Durham location.  It seemed a bit smaller than the Durham location, but they had a large heated porch where guests could also sit. 

Once we had finished out tasty lunch we needed a sweet treat.  So, we headed back into the mall to check out Miel Bon Bons.  They had decadent handmade chocolates as well as coffee.  There chocolates were made with really creative ingredients such as saffron and pistachio and we would have liked to try them all.  They also create beautiful custom cakes on order.  In addition to Miel Bon Bons, if your sweet tooth needs additional treats you could also head to Rita's located in the mall across from Elmo's.

There were more stops to our adventure at Carr Mill Mall.  Next, we stopped by Weaver Street Market just to check it out.  This cooperative grocery store brought me back to my time living in Seattle with a similar focus on local, organic, and diverse ingredients including an aisle full of dispensers full of every variety of grain, nut, and other treats.  My favorite in that aisle was the grind it yourself peanut butter.  Our family always gets a kick out of checking out and exploring a new grocery store, and this was no exception.

What we liked: We loved that Carr Mill had several different places to explore and we could spend he whole morning there.  It's also nearby several other great Carrboro locations such as the Farmers Market and Maple View Ice Cream.  We would love to head back when the weather is better so we can enjoy our time outside as well as in the mall.

What we would change:  There aren't very many stores in the mall, so there's not a lot of browsing to be done.  More selection would really make this a great destination, but the places that are there are fun to explore for a new outing.


Website and other important information: 

Website: http://www.carrmillmall.com/

Address: Corner of Greensboro and Weaver St. in Carrboro, NC

Store Websites:

*Miel Bon Bons: http://mielbonbons.com/
*Elmo's Diner: www.elmosdiner.com/
*Ali Cat Toys: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ali-cat-carrboro
*Weaver Street Market: www.weaverstreetmarket.coop/

*Address: 200 North Greensboro St, Carrboro, NC 27510 

*Phone Number: (919) 942-8669

*Hours: The hours of each store vary, but it looks like most stores open at 10 or 11am.

Photos: 

1. The interior of the mall

2. A view of the Ali Cat from the mall

3. The aisle of goodies at Weaver St. Market

4. A view of the mall