Shopping in North Lauderdale, FL works in rings. Inside the city you get three plaza-scale centers, a meat and seafood supermarket, and a Polish deli, which covers groceries and everyday needs but not clothes or furniture. About 10 minutes out, Margate and Tamarac hold the thrift stores and the Sunday farmers market. Allow 15 to 30 minutes for the outlets, the open-air centers and the flea market. This guide walks each ring outward, with drive times, and says plainly what each one is good for.
How Shopping in North Lauderdale Is Organized by Drive Time
North Lauderdale covers 4.70 square miles in north-central Broward County and had 44,794 residents at the 2020 census (U.S. Census data via Wikipedia). There’s no mall, no outlet center and no boutique district inside those city limits. Visit Lauderdale, the official tourism bureau for the county, describes the city as a quiet residential suburb west of Fort Lauderdale, and that’s exactly how the retail reads.
What the city does have is three anchored plazas spread across it, so groceries and basics are never far. Arena Shoppes sits at McNab Road and Rock Island Road. The Shoppes at Western Woods covers the west end, and Cypress Lakes Town Center handles the State Road 7 side. Two of the three are Publix-anchored; Arena Shoppes is anchored by Ross.
Everything else is a drive, and the rings are consistent. About 10 minutes north or west gets you thrift and a farmers market. Allow 15 to 25 minutes for the Promenade at Coconut Creek, Sawgrass Mills and the Swap Shop, and about 30 minutes east for Las Olas Boulevard. Add another half hour going north and you reach Boca Raton and Delray Beach. Rush hour stretches every one of those times.
Inside the City: Plazas, a Meat Market and a Polish Deli
The shopping inside North Lauderdale is practical rather than recreational, and the specialty grocers are the part worth driving in for. Broward Meat and Fish, Ross, Publix and Walmart are all among the city’s major employers, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance.
Arena Shoppes is the Ross-anchored neighborhood center at West McNab Road and Rock Island Road, with Rainbow and Dollar Tree plus a fast-food row. This is the default stop for household basics, kids’ clothes and discount apparel without leaving the city. Parking is a free surface lot right at the doors. Go on a weekday if you want the Ross racks in any kind of order.
The Shoppes at Western Woods sits at 8140 W McNab Road. It’s a Publix-anchored plaza with eateries, retail and services attached, and the Publix here runs a deli and bakery and keeps 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. hours (Publix). For the western half of the city it’s the shortest grocery run available.
Cypress Lakes Town Center at 1297 S State Road 7 is the eastern counterpart, anchored by a Publix, with nail salons, banks and restaurants filling the rest. If you live in the apartments along State Road 7, this is the plaza you default to. It’s an errands center rather than a destination, so don’t drive across town for it.
Broward Meat and Fish Company at 8040 W McNab Road is a full supermarket built around its meat and seafood counters, with produce, groceries and a hot food and deli section. It’s open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday (Broward Meat and Fish). It’s also one of the city’s biggest private employers. Weekend mornings are busy, so shop midweek if you can.
Krakus Polish Deli at 7306 Southgate Boulevard is the surprise. It’s a deli counter and small market with deli meats, sausages, cheeses, pierogi, bakery items and Polish beer, in a city where the food scene is overwhelmingly Caribbean. Plan on takeout. It’s worth a stop for the pierogi even if you came for nothing else.
10 Minutes Out: Thrift Stores, Furniture and the Sunday Market
The thrift and secondhand shopping near North Lauderdale sits in Margate and Tamarac, all within about 10 minutes. This is also where the used furniture is, which matters because the city has no furniture showrooms of its own. All three thrift stores below line up along State Road 7 in Margate, which makes a single loop easy.
Women in Distress Blooming Sales at 1372 N State Road 7 in Margate carries clothing, housewares and furniture, and the proceeds support domestic violence services. It’s open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday (Women in Distress), which is the most common reason people turn up to a locked door. Furniture stock turns over quickly, so early in the week is a good time to look. If you buy a piece before the room is ready, a 10×10 storage unit holds the furniture from a one-bedroom apartment in the meantime.
Goodwill Margate at 2057 N State Road 7 is about a mile up the same road, which makes the two an easy pair on one trip. It’s open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday (Goodwill South Florida). The mix is standard Goodwill: clothing, books, housewares and the occasional furniture piece.
The Salvation Army Thrift Store and Donation Center at 320 N State Road 7 in Margate rounds out the loop, with household goods and furniture alongside the racks (Google Business Profile). It opens at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday and is closed Sunday. Sofas and dressers move fast at all three.
Tamarac Community Farmers Market runs every Sunday year-round from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park, 7825 Southgate Boulevard, about 8 minutes west. Vendors bring produce, prepared foods including barbecue, baked goods, soaps and spices, and admission is free (Tamarac Talk). Go before 11 a.m. from June through September.
15 to 25 Minutes: Outlets, Open-Air Centers and the Flea Market
The real volume shopping near North Lauderdale sits in this ring, and it splits three ways: an outlet giant, a walkable open-air center and a flea market.
Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, about 20 minutes southwest, carries more than 350 stores and bills itself as the largest outlet destination in the U.S. (Simon). The mix runs from everyday outlets to the Colonnade Outlets luxury wing. Park by the entrance nearest the wing you want and note where you left the car, because finding it again is the genuine challenge here. Holiday hauls have a way of outgrowing a closet, and a 5×5 locker absorbs the boxes and seasonal gear.
The Promenade at Coconut Creek, about 15 minutes north at 4443 Lyons Road, is the closest place to combine shopping, a meal and a drink outdoors without driving to the beach. The open-air center has shops and a run of restaurants including Bar Louie, Ethos Greek Bistro, The Cheesecake Factory and Saito’s Japanese Steakhouse. Parking is free. From May through October, wait until after 5 p.m., because walking it midday is unpleasant.
The Swap Shop at 3291 W Sunrise Boulevard, about 25 minutes south on the Fort Lauderdale and Lauderhill line, is a large indoor and outdoor flea market with food vendors and stalls selling everything from clothing to electronics. Weekend mornings are when the full vendor roster turns out. Bring cash and shoes you can walk in for two hours. The drive-in theater that used to share the site closed in 2023 after a fire, though the flea market still operates (Wikipedia). Vendors who sell here often keep stock offsite, and a 10×20 unit, about the size of a one-car garage, handles racks and inventory.
30 Minutes East: Boutiques, the Galleria and a Food Hall
Boutique shopping near North Lauderdale means driving east to Fort Lauderdale, roughly 30 minutes on a normal day and longer at rush hour. This is the ring where you park once and walk.
Las Olas Boulevard is the tree-lined style mile, and the closest genuinely walkable shopping street to the city. Independent boutiques and galleries sit alongside restaurants and cocktail patios that pick up in the early evening. Park in a garage and stay out of the car. Go late afternoon so the shopping rolls into dinner rather than competing with it.
The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale near the beach is the traditional enclosed mall, anchored by Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Dillard’s. It’s open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday (Galleria at Fort Lauderdale). The whole argument for it between June and September is that it’s fully air-conditioned, which the open-air centers aren’t. It also pairs naturally with a beach afternoon, since it sits minutes from the sand.
Sistrunk Marketplace and Brewery at 115 NW 6th Street is a food hall with restaurants, a brew bar and a distillery. One stop covers lunch and a drink, which is efficient when you only have an afternoon downtown. It’s closed Monday and Tuesday, so plan it for later in the week.
Worth the Longer Drive: Boca Raton, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach
Three Palm Beach County towns are close enough to work as shopping day trips, and each has a different character. Boca Raton is 30 to 35 minutes north, and Mizner Park is the draw: open-air shopping, galleries and outdoor dining in one place. Delray Beach is about 40 minutes, and Atlantic Avenue plus the Pineapple Grove Arts District is compact enough to park once and walk.
West Palm Beach is just under an hour, with Clematis Street for bars, restaurants and downtown shopping. Across the bridge, Palm Beach adds Worth Avenue. Brightline runs between its Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations (Brightline) if you’d rather skip the parking altogether. Clothing bought on these trips tends to be the seasonal kind, and 5×10 units fit a wardrobe you rotate rather than wear year-round.
Parking, Hours and Shopping Around the Weather
No shopping stop inside North Lauderdale charges for parking, and that’s the quiet advantage of shopping local here. Arena Shoppes, Western Woods and Cypress Lakes all have free surface lots. The Promenade at Coconut Creek is free as well. Paid parking only starts once you reach the beach and downtown Fort Lauderdale, where garages and metered street spaces are the norm.
Closing days catch people out. Women in Distress is closed Sunday and Monday, the Salvation Army store is closed Sunday, the Tamarac farmers market runs Sunday only, and the Swap Shop is at its fullest on weekend mornings rather than weekday afternoons. Plaza Publix stores keep long daily hours, so groceries are the one thing that’s never a scheduling problem.
Weather shapes the calendar more than most guides admit. The wet season runs May through October, and afternoon thunderstorms are common, so outdoor centers work best in the morning or after 5 p.m., and enclosed malls are the honest fallback. Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, peaking around September 10 with most activity from mid-August to mid-October (NOAA National Hurricane Center), and stores across Broward can close on short notice when a storm is tracking. Humidity is the other constant, which is why leather, wood furniture, vinyl records and paper goods do badly in a garage here and why climate-controlled storage in North Lauderdale is worth the difference for anything you care about.
Within half an hour, only two places on this list are truly walkable once you arrive: Las Olas Boulevard and the Promenade at Coconut Creek. Mizner Park and Atlantic Avenue are the walkable options on the longer Palm Beach County drives. Everything else is a park-and-enter trip.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the most popular shopping store in North Lauderdale?
Ross at Arena Shoppes is the city’s anchor for discount clothing and household basics, and Ross is one of North Lauderdale’s major employers. For food, Publix at the Shoppes at Western Woods and Publix at Cypress Lakes Town Center split the city between them, while Broward Meat and Fish draws shoppers for its meat and seafood counters.
Where is the biggest mall near North Lauderdale?
Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, about 20 minutes southwest, with more than 350 stores. Simon calls it the largest outlet destination in the U.S., and it combines everyday outlet shopping with the Colonnade Outlets luxury wing. The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale, about 30 minutes east, is the traditional enclosed mall if you want department stores such as Macy’s instead of outlets.
Where can you do boutique shopping near North Lauderdale?
Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, roughly 30 minutes east, is the closest real boutique district, with independent shops and galleries along the street. Mizner Park in Boca Raton and Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach are the other options. North Lauderdale itself has no boutique row, so all three are drives.
What shops are on Las Olas Blvd?
Las Olas Boulevard mixes independent boutiques and art galleries with restaurants, cafes and cocktail bars between the storefronts, so the street works as an evening out rather than just a shopping errand. It’s the one shopping street near North Lauderdale where you can leave the car in a garage and walk the whole thing.
Where is the cheapest shopping in North Lauderdale?
Arena Shoppes covers discount retail inside the city with Ross, Rainbow and Dollar Tree in one lot. For secondhand, Women in Distress, Goodwill Margate and the Salvation Army store on State Road 7 in Margate are all about 10 minutes out, and all three carry furniture. The Swap Shop flea market is a budget option too if you’re willing to drive 25 minutes and haggle.
Storage Space for What You Bring Home
Value Store It has two North Lauderdale facilities, and both rent month-to-month with no long-term contract. Our North Lauderdale facility carries the widest range of sizes in the city. Beyond the sizes already mentioned, there’s 5×15 storage space for the contents of two rooms, narrow 10×5 units for the contents of one room, 10×15 storage for a two-bedroom apartment, and the 10×30, the largest size we rent here, for a four-bedroom home or business inventory. RV parking is available at this site as well.
Our second North Lauderdale location covers the same everyday range with the vehicle options added. Sizes there start with a 5×5 at that site and run through 5×10 storage there, 10×5 spaces, a 10×10 unit at the second site, 10×15 space at North Lauderdale II and 10×20 storage at that location. Climate-controlled units at the second site handle the humidity, and boat storage and car storage cover what won’t fit in a driveway.
If a thrift-store find or an outlet run leaves you short on room at home, our storage unit size guide will tell you which unit fits before you rent, and either location can take it from there.
Once you’ve shopped the city, the rest of the guides fill in around it: where to eat in North Lauderdale covers the Caribbean and Latin kitchens along State Road 7 and Kimberly Boulevard, things to do in North Lauderdale starts with Hampton Pines Park, day trips from North Lauderdale goes further north and west, and moving to North Lauderdale handles the housing and cost questions.
