Crabtree (shopping mall)

Crabtree (also known as Crabtree Valley Mall) is a shopping mall in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. The mall spans 1,343,109 square feet (124,778.9 m²) of selling space, making it the largest mall in the Research Triangle area. As of 2025^[update], the mall is anchored by Belk (separate women's and men's stores) and Macy's.

Crabtree Valley Mall opened in August 1972 at the intersection of US 70/NC 50 (Glenwood Avenue) and the I-440 Beltline. Original anchors were Hudson Belk, Sears, G.C. Murphy, Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimer's.

From the start, the mall pulled shoppers from all over central and eastern North Carolina. Many of them came to the 251,000-square-foot (23,300 m²) Hudson Belk, which is still the largest store in the complex and today serves as a Belk flagship location. The mall was remodeled in the mid-1980s and added many specialty stores and a food court. It faced little competition in its market until the 1990s, when Cary Towne Center in nearby Cary doubled in size and spawned a companion mall, Crossroads Plaza.

In response, Crabtree Valley Mall embarked on a major expansion starting in 1993. G.C. Murphy, Miller & Rhoads, and Piccadilly all closed down during this period. Thalhimer's converted to Hecht's, and began planning for a new, larger location at the mall. In 1993 a 40 by 110-foot (34 m) section of the parking deck collapsed just three months after it had been completely rebuilt. Sears closed its Crabtree Valley Mall store in 1994 and opened a new location adjacent to it that August. The old Sears was reconstructed for additional stores and connected to a new, larger Hecht's, which opened in August 1995, while the original Hecht's became a Lord & Taylor.

Lord & Taylor closed in 2006. The upper level became a Belk Men's store, while the lower level was renovated as additional in-line stores, including the first H&M in North Carolina in 2010. All Hecht's stores were renamed Macy's in September 2006.

On August 22, 2018, it was announced that Sears would close. In June 2019, it was reported that the Sears store would be demolished for construction of a 30-story office tower. Cost estimates for the initial portion of the project were cited at about $290 million, with expectations to create more than 1,300 jobs. These plans eventually fell through.

In 2020, Pacific Retail assumed management of Crabtree Valley Mall, and soon after began marketing it simply as Crabtree.

On July 25, 2022, the News and Observer reported that furniture stores Pottery Barn, Arhaus, and Williams-Sonoma have closed their stores at Crabtree due to the opening of Fenton, a new shopping center that recently opened in Cary, across the street from the defunct Cary Towne Center.^{[citation needed]}