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| - The old Cross Road (aka Carowinds) Mall. I think the only thing left from it's previous incarnation is the old Hamrick's (and that's a review all unto itself about how it reminds me of old, country, 80's, Sears stores). But, from what I understood, the Cross Roads mall suffered a slow and painful death and Plaza Fiesta came to try to revive it.
I don't know if it did though. For the most part the place is pretty deserted outside the main playground/food court area. The layout is a simple grid of large vertical hallways and smaller horizontal ones. The large ones have names like Avenue of the American while the little ones each have the name of a Spanish-speaking country.
They hallways have a variety of stores that range from ethnic eateries/pastries, shoe stores, hispanic/latin products, cell phones, sound equipment, Quinceañera dresses, knock off clothing, brand clothing, and others. The anchors, untraditionally, include Hamrick's, a Tae Kwon Do schoo, and a small Latin grocery store, a Van Heusen Outlet and a Cowboy Clothing store. One of the most unique stores though is definitely the Botanica, which specializes in Latin American folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products culturally regarded as magical or lternative medicine. Strolling the hallways is a very interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon once or twice... but after that, you've pretty much seen it all and the fascination wears off.
The food court is really good. They have some pretty unique eateries here that you won't find in any other mall. They have a Mexican restaurant with pretty traditional Mexican food (not really dishes though, more like tacos, subs, sopes, etc), A Ceviche stand, a Greek restaurant and others.
The food court also houses the biggest/tallest indoor playground in the Southeast. Our kids LOVE this thing. It's like a massive hamster maze with slides. If you have kids, try it out. It's a pretty cool concept. You buy your kids a bracelet and you throw them in the fenced-in, round-the-cloock guarded playground. The kids are not allowed out unless their bracelet matches yours. So, short of someone from the Colombian black market chopping your hand off, you're pretty safe to get your kids back... whether you want to or not. Their arcade is pretty awesome as well, a little pricey, but unlike most other places that still have arcade rooms, all the games work!!!
They also have special rooms to hold parties. Becky and I have held two parties here, one for Girl 1 and one for Boy 3. We were fortunate enough to get great service from the girls who run the arcade/party room and the parties were a success at a very reasonable price.
They used to have a Latin-themed music store... but that went out of business. Which sucks cuz they also carried some awesome books in Spanish that you can't really get anywhere in Charlotte.
It does seem like the mall is flailing though. Stores seem to appear and disappear every time you go and customers are scant at best. I do not know if this is going to last much longer but it seems the only business they get is on weekend. I could be wrong.
I enjoy coming here and bringing the kids. Hopefully they'll be around for while.
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