A day in Concord

This guide covers Concord, the Cabarrus County seat about twenty five minutes northeast of Uptown. Most Charlotte people know it for two things, the speedway and the outlet mall, and both are worth a day. What fewer know is that the old Cannon Mills complex and the downtown around Union Street have turned into something genuinely good over the past few years.

Getting there

I-85 north is the route, and it is straightforward outside rush hour. There is no rail connection. Bruton Smith Boulevard is the exit for the speedway and the outlet mall, and Union Street is the exit for downtown. Parking is free almost everywhere in Concord, which is not something you can say about anywhere in Charlotte.

Gibson Mill: the main event

The 1899 Cannon Mills complex on McGill Avenue has been redeveloped into what locals now half seriously call Concord’s second downtown, and it holds three separate reasons to visit.

The anchor is The Depot at Gibson Mill, which claims to be the largest antique mall in the South and the numbers support it: 88,000 square feet across five rooms, more than 750 booths, 430 vendors. Production crews for The Hunger Games bought props here. A first visit takes two to three hours at minimum, and there is a deli inside serving sandwiches when you need to stop.

Next door, Gibson Mill Market is the food hall in the same complex, with coffee, doughnuts, tacos, barbecue, burgers, pizza and a bar, plus a children’s play zone. Vendors turn over as tenants change, so the lineup shifts.

Under the same roof, Cabarrus Brewing Company occupies a large taproom in the mill with couches, a mezzanine event space and a beer garden, serving burgers, wings and bang bang shrimp. High Branch Brewing is a few doors down, which means two breweries under one roof complex.

Downtown Concord

Union Street has been rebuilt over the past decade and is now a proper walkable main street with independent shops and restaurants. The Cabarrus Arts Council runs four free galleries on the first floor of the historic county courthouse, with rotating exhibits of local and regional artists. Admission is always free and the restored building is part of the draw.

The Avett Brothers mural sits a block away and is the most photographed wall in Cabarrus County.

A block off Union Street, 1122 Coffee Co. is the 17 seat coffee shop a block off Union Street, opened by sisters Karlee McBride-Webber and Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride. It is small and it is the best coffee in the county.

On Brumley Avenue, Southern Strain Brewing shares a renovated mill building with a coffee bar and Nothing New, the vintage clothing shop. Beer, coffee and vintage in one building makes it a full stop instead of a quick one, and the brewery runs its own kitchen.

Eating

For barbecue, The Smoke Pit on Concord Parkway is the institution, counter service with a line most days. The south Charlotte location has table service; this one does not, and regulars prefer it that way. Brisket, Alabama chicken with white sauce and burnt ends are the orders.

Downtown has grown a handful of independent restaurants around Union Street over the past few years, and the food hall at Gibson Mill covers the rest.

The speedway end

Out on Bruton Smith Boulevard, Charlotte Motor Speedway runs events most of the year instead of just race weekends, including Speedway Christmas from November into January, which is a four mile drive through light show and the largest in the region. The Dirt Track and zMAX Dragway are on the same grounds.

Next to the speedway, Rocky River Golf Club has a renovated clubhouse and well conditioned fairways, and it is one of the better public courses in the region.

On Lyles Lane, iFLY is the indoor skydiving wind tunnel, where a vertical column of air recreates freefall without an airplane. Children as young as five can fly. The experience runs about ninety minutes for two short flights, so manage expectations on actual air time.

The other landmark out here is Concord Mills, the outlet mall, and it is the single busiest retail destination in the state. Whether that is a recommendation depends on your feelings about outlet malls.

On Weddington Road, Great Wolf Lodge is the indoor water park resort, kept at a comfortable temperature year round, and day passes are available without booking a room.

A day that works

Coffee at 1122, the galleries at the courthouse and a walk down Union Street in the morning. Lunch at the Gibson Mill food hall, then the Depot for as long as your patience holds. A beer at Cabarrus or Southern Strain in the afternoon. Barbecue at the Smoke Pit on the way home.

That is a full day, all of it walkable in two clusters, and the only cost beyond food is the gas to get there.

The mill history

Cannon Mills built Concord, and understanding that explains the shape of the town. At its height it was one of the largest textile operations in the world, and the company built housing, a downtown and much of the civic infrastructure around it. The mills closed through the 1980s and 1990s and the town spent two decades working out what to do with the buildings.

Gibson Mill is the answer that worked. The redevelopment kept the industrial structure instead of clearing it, which is why an antique mall, a food hall and two breweries share a building that looks exactly like what it was.

Staying over

Concord has more hotel capacity than a town its size would normally carry, because the speedway and the outlet mall both drive demand. That means rooms are plentiful and cheap most of the year and expensive and scarce on race weekends. Great Wolf Lodge is the family option and the most expensive of them.

With children

Concord handles a family better than most day trips from Charlotte. Great Wolf Lodge is the obvious one and the most expensive. iFLY takes children from five. The Gibson Mill food hall has a play zone, which buys parents a meal. Frank Liske Park on the south side of town has fields, a lake, a carousel and a large playground, and it costs nothing.

The speedway runs family events beyond the races, and Speedway Christmas in particular works with young children because you stay in the car.

What it costs

The free half is substantial: the courthouse galleries, downtown, the murals and the parks all cost nothing, and parking is free everywhere. The Depot costs whatever you buy. iFLY, Great Wolf Lodge and anything at the speedway are the paid attractions, and all three are priced as a main event instead of an add-on.

Good to know

Checked September 2026. Race weekends change everything about Concord. Traffic on Bruton Smith Boulevard and I-85 becomes serious, hotel prices spike and the whole northeast corridor slows down. Check the speedway calendar before planning a day here.

Two practical notes. The Depot is closed some weekdays and the vendor booths keep their own hours, so a Saturday visit sees the most open. And Gibson Mill and downtown are a short drive apart instead of walkable between, so plan them as two stops.

Know somewhere in Concord we should have included? Tell us.