Pinecrest is located near Cleveland and is similar to an outdoor mall, but more unique.

This outdoor shopping experience offers a variety of boutiques and restaurants as well as some activities.

Shops

The shops have many that are not as well known. There are many boutiques at Pinecrest that are not chained and have unique clothing. Most of these items are not found anywhere else, which makes these store very interesting to look through.

They do have a few stores that are stores you would see at a regular mall, however, they are higher end.

In general, all the shops are somewhat expensive. Right now there are not too many shops, but more are coming by the end of the year and next year.

Restaurants

The restaurants at Pinecrest are pretty interesting. Pinecrest has more restaurants then shops and, like the shops, many restaurants are still being built.

These restaurants have a few chain ones, but mainly have ones not as common in Ohio. The are bring things to Cleveland usually found farther away such as the Shake Shack and Duck Donuts.

 Overall, they have a good variety of restaurants as well as activity restaurants and many more are being built.

Activities

The activities to do at Pinecrest are interesting as the places are pretty original. They have things such as painting and yoga. Many spas are located here as well for a relaxing time.

Activities in Restaurants

Pinstripes is advertised as a restaurant, but offers so much more. You can enjoy their food and also stick around to play games and it even has bowling in the restaurant  to do.

Another place that offers food and activities is Silverspot Cinema. This is a movie theater that places recent movies as well as older. This is somewhere that you can relax in comfy chairs and watch movies as well as eat dinner at the same time.

Events

Events take place at Pinecrest as well. There will be more when they have construction is gone and the weather is good, but it will be exciting to see what takes place there and can add a lot to a day trip if extra things are going on.

While Pinecrest is still under construction, many places are already opened and shows lots of promise. Pinecrest you be a good day trip because of their unique places to visit and you can shop, eat, and enjoy the activities there as well.

 

Hartville, Ohio has many shops in the little town to offer, however they have several big store attractions.

The Hartville Marketplace and flea market, Hartville Hardware, and Hatville Kitchen and bakery/ Hartville collectibles are huge stores next to one another and host events that attract many people. Taking a trip to these stores will last all day as there is so much to see.

Hartville Marketplace and flea market

The Hartville Market place is my favorite as it has so much to look at.

The Marketplace is based indoors and has a variety of shops. On one end it is set up like a street with modern looking shops. This end is newly renovated and still has many unopened shops, but the shops open consists mainly of food. They have a popcorn and nuts shop with a small movie theater to enjoy, a pasta and meat shop, a donut shop, Hartville chocolate, and the Mapleview Market which is the biggest and has many unique snacks.

In the middle of the market near the front entrance there is a food court and coffee shop as well.

On the other end there is booths set up that have some people permanently set up and some interchanging. There are some unique store, but these booths, for the most part, consists of homemade items, clothing, furniture, and services such as eyebrows and henna tattoos.

The marketplace even has an upstairs. The shops upstairs are decor, toys, clothing, and unique items. These shops are a bit more pricey and have more shops directed toward children and older adults.

The flea market is always a wild card when going to Hartville. One thing to note is that the flea market does have unusual hours and is taken place outside so it always depends on weather and time to see how many vendors are there.  There are many vendors on weekends and nice weather. There are often vendors that are there almost everyday, but usually it is random.

Typically, the flea market takes up most of the back parking lot. There are quite a few rows with antiques, toys, furniture, movies, records, etc. In the middle of the parking lot there is two covered rows. In these rows there is usually produce and items from grocery stores at discounted prices. These vendor that are in the covered rows are there even when it is not busy or if the weather is not looking good because they are protected.

Hartville Hardware

Hartville Hardware is not something, including myself, that everyone is interested because it is mainly tools and house renovation supplies. Despite the fact, it is advertised as America’s largest hardware store and has pretty interesting supplies.

Firstly, Hartville Hardware has any tool you could possible imagine. The store is HUGE with aisles filled to the ceiling, if you are looking for any tool or gadget, you can find it here.

Also, they do have a lot of clothing and toys as well. Their clothing is mainly friendly and carpentry outfits, but they do have some basic clothing. Their clothing and toys are a bit pricey, but good quality. They mainly sell big stuffed animals that are not as common.

A really cool thing to look at is their home model. Hartville Hardware has any flooring and room needs and put this to display as they have a actual home designed by them in the center of the store. It is really cool to walk through and see all the possibilities.

Finally the have extra interesting seasonal things to look at as well. Depending on the holiday, they offer a large variety of decorations to look through for indoor or outdoors. They also have live chicks to look at when the season is right as well and sell them as well as all their needs.

Hartville Kitchen and bakery/ Harville Collectibles

Both stores and restaurant are attached to one another in the same building.

Hatville Kitchen is a restaurant that consists of good home cooked meals. This is one of the main attractions and best restaurant to eat at. Their food is good and reminds you of a nice home cooked meal.

The biggest issue is the wait for a table. Because it is so popular, during lunch or dinner times this can cause a pretty big line to form causing up to an hour or even more wait. There is a way to get in faster if a table opens up with the number of people you have, however, there sometimes is no other choice other than to wait. That being said, there are no reservations and you must have every person dining in line with you to be seated. To avoid this, come at a more unusual hour. Overall, the wait is worth is as the food is very good.

They do offer call in orders as well that you can pick up in at least a half hour.

The Bakery is another popular stop as well. All desserts and breads severed at the restaurant are sold here. The bakery has a variety of pies, cookies, breads, and other baked goods.

The bakery sells other things such as candy of all types, Hartville brand sodas, and Hartville chips. Their Hartville brand items, in my opinion, are definitely worth a try.

Even if you are not eating at Hartville Kitchen, the bakery is worth stopping by as most of their baked goods are amazing.

Hartville Collectibles is a store attached to the bakery and restaurant. This store almost resembles a boutique as it has unique and random items. They mainly have women and children items such as jewelry and clothing, but also have many knickknack type of things to buy.

This store is pretty expensive compared to any of the other stores at the marketplace, however, you are always bound to find something of interest here.

Overall, I think Hartville is a great day trip as they have so much to explore in just three stores. Making a day of shopping, scavenging through the flea market, and enjoying the restaurant makes for a good day.

The Northside Marketplace (featured in my cover photo) is located in downtown Akron. It consists of various artists and small companies combined into one building. They have shopping and restaurants.

This is definitely a unique place to spend some time at and offers interesting shops.

The Area

The marketplace, being located in downtown Akron, is surround by many things as well. After taking a trip at the marketplace, there are many other shops available as well making this very appealing to take a day trip downtown to shop.

Layout

The layout of the marketplace is very unique. The marketplace is attached to apartments and is located at a section of the bottom.

When you walk into the marketplace you are greeted with a cash register. All of the shops are connected so instead of having vendors staying in their section waiting for customers you take everything you want to purchase from any of the booths to the cash register at front to pay.

The shops are set up differently as you walk down a row of booth set ups on each side. Some are for specific people, while some are combined. It is interesting to look through everything to see.

Rubber City Clothing is attached to the marketplace as well, however, you pay there and it is more of a separate store then the rest.

Parking 

It is a little confusing due to the fact that they have limited spots on the street. They do have a few restaurants to park at across the street, however, that is limited and some is for customers only.

On the downtown Akron website, they actually provide a parking map of all the garages and lots in downtown to park at. This is very helpful, however, the downside is the walking distances.

Shops

The shops are changed frequently, but most have a common theme and the do offer the current vendors on their website. There are lots of art vendors and many handmade things. Things such as homemade clothes, cards, and jewelry are sold there. There is also peoples art work for sale in picture forms or put on t shirts. Although all of these shops are changing and are very unique, they do tend to be a bit pricey.

There are some other things such as a honey company, tea company, a bike shop, and rubber city clothing.

Recently when I went there was a ebay area where you could buy local entrepreneurs products by scanning their ebay codes.

Mixed in the shops are small companies that have food and snacks. They have an ice cream shop, candy shop, and coffee shops for treats as well.

Overall I think that the marketplace is incredibly unique and personally very fun to go to even look at these talented, underrated vendors.

The marketplace is giving them a place to be shown to many people and create a community place as well as a point of interest in those who do not live in Akron

Crocker Park Shopping Center is a outdoor shopping mall located in Westlake Ohio.

This is a perfect place to plan a day trip as it has a variety of different  restaurants and stores.

Atmosphere

Crocker Park, as I mentioned, is an outdoor mall. This means that if you are looking to go you may prefer visiting in nicer weather.

The shopping center is set up beautifully.   Every corner you turn seems to have more to look at as if it was its own town. Shops are set up on both sides of the roads with things such as restaurants or decorations are filled in the middle as seen below from a photo I took when I was there:

Parking

The parking for Crocker Park is a bit confusing.

First they have parking on the streets. You can parallel park on the streets with shops. Like most street parking, you have to pay at a meter  and you only have a maximum amount of time.

They also offer parking behind certain shops.                                                                      There are two different types of lots. The first one is limited parking  with meters. Usually they are located right on the back of stores and looks like a regular lot but with limited spots and have the same meters as the street parking. They also have lots farther away from the backs of the store that has many spots and is free.

Certain stores have free parking garages as well.

Shopping

Crocker park is most know for their shopping.  They have a variety of shops from typical mall stores to unique and high end stores.

They offer many stores that could be found in a mall that are for teens such as: American Eagle, H&M, and Urban Outfitters.

The mall also consists of some stores that are not as common and are more expensive such as: BCBG MAXAZRIA, Anthropologie, and Banyan Tree.

Interestingly enough, Crocker Park offers other type of stores besides clothing and beauty which probably do not appeal to the younger audience. The outdoor mall has several grocery stores including: Trader Joe’s and Giant Eagle. Other types of shops are phone companies, plastic surgeons, furniture stores. Crocker Park has many offices, a hotel, and apartments to stay at as well.

Restaurants

The restaurants, in my opinion, are not very exciting as to try new things, but still offer good food.

The restaurants consists of well known chain restaurants such as: subway, TGI Fridays, and Chipotle. These are cheaper options for when going there. They also have typical mall food like Auntie Anne’s. Crocker Park includes Starbucks and Robeks for drinks and a variety of ice cream shops.

The less-known restaurants are targeted more to an adult audience as they are pricier and consists of bars, however, many are known to have good food.

Events

Crocker Park is home to many events throughout the year. During warmer weather, however, they seem to have the most.

Despite the fact that many of the events are targeted towards adults, there are some family and young adult events as well.

Things such as musical acts and concerts in the park are most common They are fun nights out to shop and eat while listing to talented musicians. They also offer movies in the park and food trucks as well as holiday events.

One thing about Crocker Park is that it is not expensive. It all depends on what you choose to buy and where you eat.

Overall, Crocker park is a great day trip to take if you are a teen. You can spend the day shopping at your favorite stores, enjoying your favorite foods, and even going on a day where they are hosting an event.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

‘Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing’ – Thomas Jefferson