As a fourth year, I have been blessed to witness Charlottesville blossom into the town it is today. Coming to UVA from New York, I really did not know how I was going to carry on in a place without a standard deli and authentic pizza let alone a town without a real mall. Regardless, the good ole ville won my heart and here I am, the already nostalgic fourth year not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Over the last year, Charlottesville started booming with the construction of new shopping complexes. Besides Trader Joes and the ever impressive IMAX theater, most of the stores remain empty glass windows that my 5 foot shopaholic self is dying to explore. But this month we’re all in luck, because the grand opening of two consumer monstrosities is just around the corner!
DSW. DSW is an actual shoe heaven. They have hundreds of shoes from patent heels for your upcoming spring formal, to boots for the next football game all laid out on the showroom floor that really could bring a tear to a gal’s eye. As if that weren’t enough, the footwear powerhouse lives by the motto Designer shoes, great prices. All shoes are at a discounted retail price, so you’re sure to get a steal! Grand opening is March 28th, but also be sure to check out their Facebook page because every Tuesday, the give away a pair of shoes in honor of free shoeday.
HomeGoods. Some may say I’m a grandma, but I have never been more excited for a store opening in my entire life. A college student who finds perusing through household consumer products a relaxing, stress relieving and utterly self-fulfilling experience is probably not the norm, but I’m sure there’s a fellow aficionado out there somewhere. HomeGoods, for all of you that don’t know, is basically the Marshalls of home goods. You know, like pots and pans, pillows, picture frames, water bottles, random décor, furniture, hangers etc. While I’ll be sure to stock up on Egyptian cotton sheets when furnishing my new apartment in the real world (yikes!), for now I am mostly excited for the food section. They have honey, teas, jams, olive oil, healthy gourmet snacks, margarita mix and you name it, for a discounted price. I know I’m not helping the grandma argument, but if you love jam (especially fig jam imported from Portugal) as much as I do, I promise you will not be disappointed. The ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for April 6 (just kidding no ribbon involved), so hold tight!
Both DSW and HomeGoods are located in the Jason’s Dei shopping center (you know the one with the 1970’s architecture) just a bit down 29, across from Fashion Square Mall. But this is only the beginning, because dozens of more stores, including Kate Spade New York, are planned to pop up over the next year in the shopping area with the new Trader Joe’s. While I have a feeling this won’t help the unexplainable traffic problem, Charlottesville is in for a treat ladies.