Crabtree Valley Mall is a major shopping center that sits along the flood-prone Crabtree Creek on US 70/NC 50 (Glenwood Avenue) near its interchange with I-440 in Northwest Raleigh. First opened in 1972, its 1,326,000 square feet makes Crabtree the largest enclosed mall in the Triangle.

Description

Crabtree Valley Mall is two stories tall (with the exception of its largest anchor store, Belk, which has three) and hosts more than 220 stores. Numerous parking decks surround the mall, as well as apartment complexes. The mall's area is roughly bounded to the north by Creedmoor Road, to the south by Blue Ridge Road, to the east by Glenwood Avenue, and to the west by Crabtree Creek. The mall is easily accessible from Crabtree Creek Trail and is served by GoRaleigh routes 6 and 16.

Stores

Originally, the mall's major anchor stores consisted of Sears, Belk, Miller & Rhoads, and Thallimer's. Today, the mall's anchor stores consist only of Belk and Macy's after Sears closed its Crabtree store in late 2018; a 30-story high rise tower was proposed at the site of the former anchor store. Other notable stores include Best Buy, The Cheesecake Factory, Barnes & Nobile, and the only H&M in the state of North Carolina. In 2018, Krispy Kreme announced plans to open a new kiosk inside the mall.

Flooding Risk

Due to its close proximity to Crabtree Creek, the mall is prone to flooding during periods of heavy rain. While several actions have been taken to reduce the impact of on the mall, such as the construction of Lake Crabtree between Morrisville and Cary and constructing retaining basins upstream of the mall, flooding is still likely to occur thanks to rapid growth in Wake County contributing to increased storm runoff.