During the holiday season, my favorite place to shop is in Commerce, Georgia. Located about one hour north of Atlanta, Georgia, on Interstate 85, Commerce is not one of those well-known shopping destinations like Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Commerce has about 120 brand-name outlet stores, several restaurants and hotels, but not extremely crowded. Easy to access off and on I-85, you can drive from one end to the other of the shopping strip in about 5 minutes. But located in that short distance is just about every store you can imagine. When we travel to Commerce, we always stay overnight so that we can shop at our own pace, go to the hotel and rest, then go out for more shopping.
One of the main attractions in Commerce is Craven’s Pottery. Better known as “The Pottery,” Craven’s has just about every and anything you could want for gifts, except clothes. They have things for the kitchen, such as dishes, small appliances and lots of glassware. They have candles and candle accessories, bath and kitchen towels, wicker furniture, silk flowers as far as the eye can see and more baskets than you will ever find in one location. Their Christmas room is full of all types of ornaments, trees, wreaths and decorations. They also have a garden area full of plants, outdoor pots, lawn statutes and garden accessories. Craven’s prices are well below any regular store. You are also able to buy wholesale from them if you have a business. You could easily spend about 3 hours or more shopping in Craven’s.
The Tanger Outlet Mall is another attraction. Tanger Outlet has 2 locations in Commerce. The main outlet is full of stores like Ralph Polo, Kirklands, Children’s Place, Bath & Body Works, Nike, Coleman, Abercrombie & Fitch, Le Gourmet Chef, Kitchen Collection and much more. You could shop here for a few hours and wear yourself out. Down the street from the main outlet is another Tanger location with stores like Reebok, Perfumia, Liz Claiborne and others. The second Tanger location is not as large as the main outlet. This outlet is located across the street from Craven’s Pottery.
In between these outlets you will find restaurants, such as Cracker Barrell, Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees and all of your most popular fast food restaurants. There are also several hotels, such as Holiday Inn Express, Red Roof Inn, Howard Johnson’s and others. There is also a Walmart located at the end of the shopping strip if you need to pick up something from there.
During the holiday season, Commerce is busy and crowded, but not as crowded as some other popular shopping areas. Everything in Commerce is easily accessible and convenient, which makes it easy to shop for a few hours, go to your hotel and rest and go back out for more shopping. Hotel rates can be a little high during peak seasons, but still not as expensive as other areas. We visit Commerce at least 3 times a year and alway enjoy our trip.
If you are in north Georgia this holiday season, you may want to stop in Commerce and see what’s there. I think you will be quite surprised at everything you will find. You may even be able to finish all your shopping in one trip.
