Wilmington Boutiques & Special Shops

Several malls offering merchandise of all types are located near Wrightsville Beach.

Across Military Cutoff Road is The Forum, a popular shopping mecca favored by those looking for unique merchandise. The Forum features upscale shops, charming boutiques and The Bento Box, long considered the best sushi restaurant. If you’re interested in beautiful merchandise, this is the place to find home furnishings, antiques, women’s fashions, jewelry and children’s clothing.

There is an expansive mall on Military Cutoff Road just north of Eastwood Road on the far east side of Wilmington, almost to Wrightsville Beach. Situated on 400 acres, the mixed-use development, Mayfaire Town Center and Mayfaire Community Center, offers a wide variety of stores, from numerous men’s, women’s and children’s clothing stores to shoe stores to Belk, the largest department chain in Wilmington. Mayfaire also has salons, a wine store, spas, furniture and home decor stores, a craft store, Barnes and Noble (Wilmington’s largest book store), and a host of other places worth perusing. Also located at Mayfaire is a movie theater, Cinema 16, with – you guessed it – 16 movie screens.
Near the Cinema 16 complex are two restaurants that are sure to please. The Melting Pot offers a large variety of fondues, with everything from several types of beef to many varieties of cheese to a large assortment of chocolate fondues on the menu. They also have a lively bar with all ABC permits and offer a separate bar menu too. The Melting Pot opens at 5:00 p.m. each day but is also open on Saturday and Sunday for lunch.

Tokyo 101 is a new Japanese restaurant that opened late in 2010. Tokyo 101 is noted for its beautiful decor, its very extensive sushi menu with a huge choice of items and for the traditional Japanese food it offers, from dishes featuring udon or yakasoba noodles to hibachi steaks, seafood and chicken to tempura of several kinds to sizzling platters. They have a full bar with all ABC permits and have both indoor and outdoor dining spots. Tokyo 101 is open for lunch and dinner with a different luncheon special each day.

Down the street from the Forum is Landfall Center, a sprawling strip plaza containing several banking centers, specialty shops and restaurants. The Northeast Regional Library and UNCW Executive Development Center are located at the north end.

For a truly local kind of shopping experience, explore the trendy boutiques
at Lumina Station on Eastwood Road. This attractively designed and landscaped village boasts more than 25 businesses and unique shops, day spa, fitness facilities, fine dining and a relaxing ambiance.

Another shopping concentration can be found in Monkey Junction, where South College Road merges with Carolina Beach Road (U.S. 421). This rapidly growing shopping center is busy, busy, busy. Clustered around a Wal-Mart superstore and a Lowe’s Home Improvement are several strip plazas, numerous fast-food chains, gas stations, popular restaurants, furniture store, pool center and a supermarket. Nearby are a public library and two medical/urgent care facilities along with doctors’ offices and a pharmacy. In 2007, a new Home Depot store opened to anchor another budding shopping center off Piner Road, and, less than a mile away, Harris Teeter opened a magnificent grocery store.