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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Like We Always Do At This Time... Your Guide to 2014 CIAA Week In Charlotte

For the fifth consecutive year, I've provided comprehensive coverage of CIAA Week for CharlotteMagazine.com. Each year the parties lists get bigger, and so do the names of the celebrities who are coming to Charlotte to host them. You've likely already been checking out the content over the last few weeks--we began publishing the events lists at the end of January and have been updating them with additional events each week (shout out to Google for driving the traffic).

And today, CIAA Week 2014 officially began.

One thing I take pride in is showcasing the whole story of what CIAA Week is. Yes, for many of you it's about coming to Charlotte for a few days and partying your arse off. But there are also 12 men's and 12 women's teams from HBCUs competing for the CIAA basketball championship at Time Warner Cable Arena, and for many of those young people this is the highlight of their lives thus far. And for a lot of alumni from CIAA schools, this week is about reuniting with their former classmates and with their fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters. Some of them are the second or third generation in their family to attend a CIAA school.

So when you visit CharlotteMagazine.com/CIAA, in addition to perusing the parties lists, take a few minutes to also read the articles about the reunion aspect of CIAA, and about how Miss CIAA 2004 is now a U.S. diplomat. A lot of African-American traditions haven't survived throughout our country's history. CIAA is one of them. Make sure you appreciate it.

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NASCAR's 'Heroes' Commercial Targets Young Fans

When I interviewed longtime NASCAR team owner Felix Sabates for Where Charlotte magazine last year, among the many interesting things he told me (and many that I didn't have space for in the article) that he believed his league needed to do to grow is to attract younger fans. Well, one of NASCAR's newest television commercials, which began airing this weekend with the running of the Daytona 500, features kids.

Credit: youtube.com/nascar

In the minute-long commercial, titled "Heroes," several boys and one girl talk about what they dream of becoming. They appear to be between elementary and middle school age, and they dream "of flying," "of riding a rocket," "of being an athlete," "of being a king," and "of being fearless," among other things. Their assertions are followed by quick and exciting scenes from NASCAR races and several of the sports most popular drivers. The commercial closes with one of the kids saying he dreams of being a race car driver, which essentially is what each of the kids is saying.

When I saw the commercial this afternoon, I immediately liked it. Heck, it even gave me a little bit of that excitement we only tend to have about something as kids. Even though I consider myself an avid sports fan today, it pales in comparison to how I was as a kid. When I would watch games all day on the weekends, wouldn't miss a round of the playoffs, read the player and team stats whenever they were published in the newspaper (that's a lost art). So it is absolutely imperative that NASCAR chase these young fans, whom I assume they hope will grow to be adult fans.

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Soledad O'Brien Brings 'Black In America' Town Hall Tour to Charlotte - February 18

Race is often something people have difficulty talking about, or they talk about too much but not in a constructive way. So it's great when you have an expert facilitating the discussion. That's what we'll get when Soledad O’Brien hosts her "Black In America" Town Hall Tour this Tuesday, February 18 in Charlotte. The event starts at 7 p.m. and is being brought to you by the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, but is actually taking place across the street at Knight Theater (430 S. Tryon St.) to accommodate more people. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through CarolinaTix.

Photo credit: Starfish Media Group

The conversation will focus on issues of race, class, wealth, and education, all of which stir frequent debate and division in this country. Directly after the discussion, she'll hold a book signing for her book, The Next Big Story: My Journey Through the Land of Possibilities.

Charlotte is the second of five cities on the "Soledad O’Brien Presents: Black In America" tour, taking place over the span of a week. And this tour is a part of the new ventures Soledad (@soledadobrien) is launching, as she branches out beyond her role as an award-winning journalist (she's still doing high-profile reporting, including for Al Jazeera America and this recent interview with Russell Simmons). She left her CNN morning show a year ago to launch her own media production company, Starfish Media Group, which, among other things, she will continue to produce documentaries in the "In America" series on CNN.

The newswoman-turned-entrepreneur has partnered with Google, which is sponsoring the Black In America initiative, and the tech giant is assisting Starfish Media Group by providing Google+ Hangouts, Google Apps for Business, and creating a YouTube channel to allow the company to reach a broader audience, according to The Huffington Post.

You can follow Black In America on Google+, and the first Hangout airs live this Wednesday at 6 p.m., from the tour stop at Towson University in Maryland. You can join in the conversation by uploading a photo of yourself holding a sign that says what "Being Black in America means..." to you, and post it using this hashtag: #iAmTheConversation.

Photo credit: Google+

Visit iamtheconversation.com for more details.

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'You can go as far as your talent, hard work, and faith will take you...'

My message to the youth.

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