No Grease Barbershop Opening At Carolina Place Mall

No Grease Barbershop is expanding into south Charlotte/Pineville, as it prepares to open at Carolina Place mall on Thursday, July 3. This will be the Charlotte-based franchise's fourth location, which includes barbershops at Time Warner Cable Arena in Uptown, Mosaic Village near Johnson C. Smith University, and at Concord Mills mall. No Grease also operates a barber school.

The new No Grease location at Carolina Place. Photos credit: instagram.com/nogreasebarbershop

I told part of the No Grease story in a feature I wrote last summer for Creative Loafing, that took readers inside Charlotte's barbershop culture. Twin brothers Damian and Jermaine Johnson opened their first No Grease shop in June 1997, when they were in their early 20s. It's been impressive and inspiring to see how much their business has grown, along with their partner Charlie Petty, and how much of an asset they've become to Charlotte as a brand, as small business owners, and as philanthropists.

The No Grease guys celebrated their 17th anniversary with a cocktail gala last Friday. Check out the snazzy video recap below.

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H&M Grand Opening February 27 at Carolina Place

Charlotte's northside got its H&M when the retailer opened at Northlake Mall in November. Now it's the southside's turn, as H&M holds its grand opening this Thursday, February 27 at Carolina Place in Pineville.

Tomorrow's grand opening event begins at noon at the store, located on the mall's upper level. Guests can begin lining up at 7 a.m. at the upper level entrance. The event will offer free T-shirts and gift cards valued from $10 to $300 for the first 200 people in line (the chance to win the $300 gift cards is what usually spurs a large turnout). There will also be music by DJ LP, refreshments, and plenty of great deals on merchandise.

This location of H&M at Carolina Place, which is selling apparel in ladies, men, kids, and young, reportedly, is 17,000 square feet, which is about a third smaller than the 26,000-square-foot Northlake store. And the Charlotte area will go from having no H&Ms, having been long overdue to this market, to soon having three locations. A SouthPark Mall store is currently under construction.

Shoppers lined up before the H&M Northlake opening last November. Photo credit: @htrenda

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Air Jordan 10 Retro 'Bobcats' Release January 11

Attention sneaker heads--and this time, also Bobcats fans--the Air Jordan 10 Retro sneakers are being released nationwide this Saturday, January 11. The kicks have been nicknamed "Bobcats" because of the Charlotte Bobcats-inspired colorway: wolf grey/dark powder blue-new slate-atomic orange. The shoes will retail for $170.

As many of the sneaker blogs (Sneaker News) point out, this is the first pair of retro J's to pay homage to the team Michael Jordan owns. Jordan Brand rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year by introducing new colors of vintage sneakers from MJ's legendary NBA career. Actually, the 10s were originally released in several colors throughout 1994 and '95, during Jordan's first retirement from basketball, when he was trying his hand at minor league baseball. A photo of the Jordan 10 Retro Bobcats is drawing plenty of comments on the Jordan Facebook page.

Credit: Nike

As usual, these retros are being sold in limited quantity and will likely sell out on Saturday (only to be resold at a much higher markup later on sites like eBay). Or will the Bobcats' lack of popularity as an NBA team hinder sales of this edition of J's? Regardless, the sneakers should at least go over well in the Carolinas.

If you're looking for them in the Charlotte area, the Foot Locker stores at SouthPark Mall and Carolina Place Mall are selling them (click here for the launch locator). And as has become protocol, a "sweepstakes" is being held just for the opportunity for you to buy the sneakers at Foot Locker. Tickets are being issued this Wednesday and Thursday, January 8 and 9, to people who come by the store. You'll need to designate the exact size you want, and on Friday the "winners" will be notified by phone, which will then allow them to come purchase the sneakers on Saturday. This prevents unruly crowds and chaos from forming at the stores on release day.

I guess you could say these sneakers are a going away present of sorts, since there are only a few more months until the Bobcats switch to the Charlotte Hornets. By the way, the new Hornets merchandise, including this basketball below, goes on sale January 18.

Credit: facebook.com/bobcats

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Sell (or Recycle) Your Used Cell Phones, Tablets, and MP3 Players to ecoATM

I stumbled upon an ecoATM a few weeks ago while at Northlake Mall. I decided to pay it a visit this evening, with old cell phone in tow.

If you aren't familiar with ecoATM, it's an automated kiosk that allows you to sell your old mobile phones, tablets, and MP3 players and get cash instantly. That is, if it's determined there's a value for it. There are, reportedly, about 650 ecoATMs around the country, including eight in the Charlotte area: two each at Northlake, Carolina Place, Concord Mills, and Eastridge (Gastonia) malls. At Northlake Mall, there's one on level two just off the food court, near the path to AMC Theatres; and the other is on level one near the entrance to Dillard's.

The ecoATM on level two at Northlake Mall. Photos credit: Jarvis Holliday

The ecoATM on level one.

According to ecoATM, it is able to assess more than 4,000 devices. I experienced firsthand just how easy it is to use. The kiosk makes it clear that the company wants you to be able to get money quick and easy, but that it wants to deter criminal activity, i.e. if someone tries to sell a stolen iPhone they will probably be tracked down. You're required to scan your driver's license or some other form of state-issued ID early on in the process. (If you get to the end where you're about to complete the sale, you'll also have to scan your thumbprint and your photo is taken).

The machine spits out a small tracking sticker, which looks like a QR code, for you to place on the back of the device. Then, you place your device inside a box on the machine, where it works its magic. After about a minute or less, it determined that there was "not a market for my device." So, the (stingy, LOL) ecoATM wouldn't offer me any cash for it, but it did offer to recycle the phone for me. I decided to hold onto it (even though it's practically useless to me).

That's the other advantage to using this machine. If devices taken in by ecoATM can't be resold, they're recycled, which helps the environment by keeping the old electronics from ending up in landfills. In April, the company announced that it had recycled its one-millionth device; it's now approaching two million. There's a large market out there for this service, considering it's estimated that Americans have as many as half a billion old mobile devices lying around that they are no longer using. That happens because the average shelf life of those devices, the majority of which are phones, is less than two years. Because, you know, you usually upgrade to a new phone or it breaks. And the old phones likely pile up in a drawer or box somewhere in your house.

I think a lot of us hold onto them because of all of the data, particularly photos and videos, that we've accumulated on them (ecoATM advises you to delete all of your info from the phone before selling it). I went through my old phone last night and it was like scrolling down memory lane as I looked at photos I took on it between 2009 and 2011. I got my current phone in November 2011, and I plan to replace it in about a month or so (I know, I use a phone longer than most of you; that's probably because I'm not #TeamiPhone). This one has a ridiculous amount of personal data stored on it.

Here's a tip. The two ecoATMs at Northlake Mall are slightly different. The one on level one requires you to stick your driver's license in a reader/slot similar to a cash dispensing ATM, whereas the one on level two requires you to place it against a small glass surface that acts as a scanner. The latter will probably work better for you if your license is old and/or has a crack in it, which could prevent it from successfully sliding through the reader.

Visit ecoatm.com.

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Charlotte's First H&M Opens Nov. 14 at Northlake Mall

I strolled around Northlake Mall a few weeks ago and I literally thought to myself: this mall can almost give SouthPark mall a run for its money. Opened since 2005, Northlake is Charlotte's youngest mall and it's always been well-managed from what I can tell. But it's the addition of many elite stores that's taking it to another level. And not the least of which is H&M, which holds its grand opening at Northlake on November 14.

H&M is occupying the space that formerly housed Borders bookstore (located near the food court entrance). For the last several months, the building has undergone massive renovations to take on the H&M brand, and making it look almost like a stand-alone store. This will be the retail giant's first Charlotte store, while a second location is scheduled to open less than a month later at Carolina Place. H&M has about 3,000 stores worldwide, with more than 230 of those located in the U.S. I'm not sure what took it so long to come to Charlotte--it opened in Raleigh and Winston-Salem prior to the Queen City, and there's also a location opening soon in Greensboro.

Chicks love H&M. Credit: facebook.com/hm

If you're not familiar with H&M, it sells ladies, men, and kids' clothing as well as home goods, and it's most known for carrying items and brands that reflect international trends. It also regularly presents special collections from celebrities such as Beyonce and David Beckham.

The H&M Northlake Grand Opening will take place Thursday, November 14 at 12 p.m. The celebration will feature fashion, music by a DJ, and giveaways. And according to the Facebook invite for the event, the first 200 shoppers in line will receive an all-access fashion pass valued up to $300 off your entire purchase. Obviously the store is opening just in time for the start of the holiday shopping season.

Rendering of H&M at Northlake Mall. Credit: shopnorthlake.com

Other stores that have opened at Northlake within the past year include Forever 21, which was already at the mall but moved to a much larger space--the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that line the entire front of the store are eye-catching; White House | Black Market and Chico's also opened earlier this year. And then there's the Apple Store that opened a couple of years ago that attracts shoppers from around the state.

There's also a lot of new development going on around the mall, particularly on Harris Boulevard near the I-485 exit.

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The Air Jordan 5 'Bel-Air' Releases Saturday

For sneaker heads, Saturday is often an important day. That's when a lot of the highly anticipated sneakers are released for sale in stores. This Saturday, October 5 is a big day for fans of the J's. The Air Jordan 5 "Bel-Air" is being sold at limited stores nationwide and is expected to sell out.

The 5's continue the lucrative trend by Jordan Brand of releasing retro sneakers in new colors. You have people my age and older who remember when these sneakers were originally released in 1990 and they want them today partly because of the nostalgia or because they can afford them now. And then there are the teenagers like my nephews who are intrigued by the sneakers that originally came out before they were born.

This release of the Air Jordan 5, or V, which retails for $185, has been given the nickname Bel-Air because the colors are reminiscent of the flashy and funky styles Will Smith wore on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The colorway for the sneakers are cool grey, court purple, game royal, club pink. Guess you could say it's a classic's ode to a classic, and one of the best sitcoms of all time also debuted in 1990, the same year as the Jordan 5's. Will's character often wore Air Jordans on the show.

If you're looking to buy these sneaks tomorrow, good luck. They're only being sold at select stores. If you're looking for them in the Charlotte area, the Foot Locker stores at SouthPark Mall and Carolina Place Mall are selling them, but you won't be able to just show up to buy them. Having learn from the craze, headaches, and even potential dangers of crowds forming outside of stores on the morning of popular sneaker releases, stores like Foot Locker now do sweepstakes or lotteries--just for the opportunity to buy the shoes. Specifically for the Bel-Airs, the Foot Locker at SouthPark and Carolina Place (as well as other select FL stores nationwide) issued tickets on Wednesday and Thursday to people who came by the store. You had to designate the exact size you wanted. Then today, Foot Locker called the winners, who'll now be able to come to the store tomorrow to buy the sneakers.

If you want to buy them from a store locally, you'll have the chance to cop the kicks from Social Status, the high-end sneaker boutique and men's clothing store in Plaza Midwood (1519 Central Ave., 704-632-9902). I called the store and the representative said they're selling the Bel-Airs on a first-come, first-served basis when they open at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and that you must also spend an additional $100 on merchandise to be able to buy the sneakers.

Social Status. Credit: socialstatuspgh.com

Foot Locker also says the sneakers will go on sale online tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Footlocker.com.

And artists are still making new songs about wearing J's.

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Omar Tyree to Host Charlotte Book Chat on March 23

Attention literary lovers and aspiring authors: Pride Public Relations is sponsoring a "Charlotte Book Chat" this Saturday, March 23, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Barnes and Noble at Carolina Place Mall (11025 Carolina Place Parkway). The event will be hosted by New York Times Best-Selling Author Omar Tyree, who resides in Charlotte, and will feature a group of local authors: Kenston Griffin, Cheris Hodges, Brian Willis, and Glen Wright.

“This event is an opportunity to celebrate and support the talented authors we have here in Charlotte,” Nepherterra Estrada, partner and director of public relations at Pride Public Relations, said in a statement. “We have a wealth of literary talent in our community, which is why this event has such a stellar line up."

Omar Tyree

Attendees will be able to purchase books on a variety of topics, ranging from financial empowerment to romance; they'll also have a chance to talk one-on-one with the authors, and have their books autographed. The authors will also share their perspectives on a number of issues during the chat with Omar.

I had the opportunity to meet and interview Omar for an article a few years ago, and I know Cheris and Brian personally. This should be a worthwhile event.

About the Authors

Omar Tyree is a best-selling author, lecturer, consultant, and entrepreneur who has written more than 16 books that have sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. He has been recognized as one of the most renowned contemporary commercial writers. He is a 2011 NAACP Image Award recipient for Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction, and a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Award winner for Body of Work in Fiction.

Kenston Griffin is a nationally known motivational speaker and the author of three successful books: New Days, New Ideas; If Better is Possible, Good is No Longer an Option; and Your Turning Point Starts Now. He is the founder and currently serves as CEO of Dream Builders Communication, Inc

Cheris Hodges is the author of Recipe for Desire and a dozen other books, and is currently working on two new ones. She's a South Carolina native who graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in 1999, all while working on her first novel. Although she lives in Charlotte, she sticks to her South Carolina roots in her novel A Love of Her Own, setting it in Columbia.

Brian Willis is the author of Help! I’m Drowning in Debt, is the chair of the Economic Empowerment at 100 Black Men of America, and is a speaker at Wealth Builders Consulting. His book shares stories of his experiences during his 20-year journey as a financial advisor and credit specialist, and offers words of wisdom that are designed to help readers through their journey toward better credit and financial management.

Glen Wright II is the co-author of The Financial Shepherd, a book written to help readers overcome obstacles of financial despair, to abandon old habits and to adopt new ways of thinking about money. He founded Worth Financial Advisory Group, which has offices in Charlotte, Detroit, and Nashville.

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