| Location | Greensboro, North Carolina, USA |
|---|---|
| Opening date | August 1957 |
| Management | CBL Properties |
| Owner | CBL Properties |
| No. of stores and services | 140 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,237,000[1] |
| Parking | Parking by storefronts throughout the center, subdivided by crosswalks |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Website | www.FriendlyCenter.com |
Friendly Center is a large, open-air shopping center located in northwestern Greensboro, North Carolina, at the intersection of Wendover Avenue and Friendly Avenue. The shopping center opened in August 1957. With its unusual sector design, Friendly Center is essentially an outdoor lifestyle center. Its anchor tenants include Belk, Macy's, and Sears. Other tenants include Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, The Grande Theatre a 16-screen multiplex cinema operated by Consolidated Theatres of Charlotte, and a number of national retailers such as Banana Republic and Victoria's Secret. It also contains Harris Teeter's flagship supermarket location encompassing 72,000 square feet (6,700 m2).
Since the renaming of Hecht's to Macy's and the addition of The Shops at Friendly Center, a new outdoor center with over 25 stores and restaurants, Friendly Center is set to remain a major shopping center in Greensboro and the Triad area. The combined retail footprint of both Friendly Center and The Shops at Friendly Center is larger than the enlosed mall across town, Four Seasons Town Centre. It features stores such as The Limited, Bath & Body Works, Express, The GAP, Eddie Bauer, Talbots, Birkenstock Feet First, Pier 1, and New York & Company.
In early 2006, construction of The Shops at Friendly Center began after the Burlington Industries building was demolished. With its official grand opening on October 19, 2006, The Shops at Friendly Center includes many retail shops that can not be found elsewhere in the Triad such as Brooks Brothers, REI, J. Crew, Coldwater Creek, White House Black Market, Pendleton, J. Jill, and Johnston & Murphy. Additionally, several high-end chain restaurants have located at the center, including P.F. Chang's, Fleming's Prime Steak House and Wine Bar, Bravo Cucina Italiana, and Mimi's Cafe. On November 8, 2006, a 72,000-square-foot (6,700 m2) Harris Teeter supermarket opened, making it the chain's largest in North Carolina.[2] The former Harris Teeter, located at Friendly Center, was demolished and a BB&T office structure was erected in its place.
On April 3, 2007, Starmount Company announced that they put Friendly Center up for sale along with most of their other commercial real estate.[3] On October 5, 2007 it was reported that CBL & Associates put a contract in to buy Friendly Center and all of Starmount Company's retail and office holdings. On January 4, 2008, The Triad Business Journal [3] reported that CBL & Associates paid more than $200 million for Friendly Center and the Shops at Friendly Center.[4]
Whole Foods Market is set to join Friendly Center in 2010 as a part of a redevelopment of the Sears building, in which Sears will reduce its footprint. [5] This will be the first Whole Foods Market in Greensboro and the second in the Piedmont Triad.