Does Raleigh North Carolina have the biggest mall in North Carolina?

Crabtree Valley Mall is a regional mall located in Raleigh, North Carolina. At 1,326,000 square feet (123,200 m2), it is the largest enclosed mall in the Triangle. Crabtree Valley contains over 220 stores and is anchored by Belk, Sears, and Macy's.

Higher-end restaurants located in the mall include The Cheesecake Factory, P. Chang's China Bistro, Kanki, Brio, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and McCormick & Schmick's. It is the site of the first H&M store in North Carolina, which opened in spring of 2010.

Crabtree Valley Mall opened in August 1972 at the intersection 3 of US 70/NC 50 (Glenwood Avenue) and the I-440 Beltline. Original anchors were Hudson Belk, Sears, Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimer's. The mall also included G.C. Murphy, Treasury Drug and Piccadilly Cafeteria.

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 serves as a Belk flagship. The mall was remodeled in the mid-1980s and added many upscale specialty stores and a food court.

It faced remarkably 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. To combat the threat of an expanded Cary Towne Center stealing business, Crabtree 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. 4 Sears closed its Crabtree store in 1994 and opened a new location adjacent to it in August 1994.

The old Sears became small shop space and connected to a new, larger Hecht's which opened in August 1995. The final piece of Crabtree's 1990s renaissance was the opening of North Carolina's first and only Lord & Taylor in November 1995 in the former Thalhimers/Hecht's. However, the store was closed in February, 2006 as part of the reorganization of May Department Stores that began in 2003.

5 A separate Hudson Belk Men's Store filled the upper level of the former Lord & Taylor, and the lower level has been converted to small store space and new entrance. A new parking deck east of Hudson Belk was completed in 2008. Part of the deck supports three new sit down restaurants that opened in late 2008.