Timberland opens first North Carolina non-outlet store at Crabtree Valley Mall

Timberland will open its first North Carolina non-outlet store at Crabtree Valley Mall on Friday, July 17, adding a new specialty retailer to one of Wake County’s busiest shopping centers. The 1,639-square-foot store will sit on the mall’s first level near Belk, and the opening weekend runs through Sunday, July 19 with exclusive offers, gifts with purchase, personalized experiences, and boot personalization for eligible purchases.

The move gives Crabtree another name-brand tenant as the mall keeps leaning harder into destination retail. Crabtree’s directory already lists Idolize Brows and Beauty as open, while Level99 appears in the mall’s directory and map as part of the current tenant mix. A June report also said Toys “R” Us and Idolize Brows and Beauty were planned to return to the first level beneath the food court, underscoring how much of the center is still being rearranged.

Macerich, which bought Crabtree in 2025 for $290 million, says the mall totals about 1.3 million square feet, with more than 200 stores, $429 million in annual sales, and more than 8.7 million annual visitors. Crabtree bills itself as the largest mall in North Carolina’s high-growth Research Triangle area, and the Timberland opening adds a brand with a different pull than a standard chain shoe store. Timberland’s Raleigh location page confirms the brand already has a store in the city, but this Crabtree location will be its only non-outlet store in North Carolina.

The Crabtree mix of additions and departures is what is changing the retail map in western Raleigh. The center has also been linked with Fogo de Chão, and older tenants such as Furniture World and Premium Stitches have already left. With Belk and Macy’s still anchoring the property, the mall is using new specialty shops, beauty services, dining, and entertainment to keep traffic flowing inside the building instead of leaking to other shopping corridors.

That matters beyond Crabtree, especially as retail development keeps pushing outward. A separate Costco proposal in Clayton would put a 166,000-square-foot warehouse with a 24-pump fuel center on an 87-acre site at 12649 Clayton Boulevard, a project reported at about $100 million and Johnston County’s first Costco. For Wake County shoppers, Timberland’s Crabtree opening is another sign that the region’s biggest retail destinations are being sorted into larger, more experience-driven stops, with Crabtree still at the center of the competition.