I have to say, I'm quite impressed by The Greene.

Let me just get my negative thoughts out of the way first... 1)The actual shopping choices are overall too fashiony for my taste. 2)The garages kind of confuse me. The Beech Garage you can enter and go up one level and that's it. The Stroop garage on the other hand... you enter and... that's the only level, there is no up and down.

That's really all I've got negative-wise. I had something about the Theater having this big parking lot behind it but no entrance facing that parking lot but I've decided to let that go in the interest of letting them draw people in to the overall "Greene" rather than letting people just go to the theater and come straight back out into the parking lot.

All in all it's quite polished for something that's really only less than halfway done.

And this really was a new experience for me. I've never been to Easton Town Center, I'm really only familiar with the "traditional malls" and Newport on the Levee and I was really expecting it to be not too far off from Newport, but it's not even close. (Though I do think it could use a Gameworks.) Newport has a lot of the same kind of stores but The Greene being in the open air just adds a ton. You leave a store at The Greene and, unlike with malls or Newport, you're not heading to another store, you're strolling. You're not confined in this one building, you're on city streets and... in a park. I was also surprised by how it managed to draw me in. Strolling through the main plaza you can really forget where you are, you forget that 1,000 feet to your left is that same K-Mart that's been there for 20+ years and that behind you another 1,000 feet is that MotoPhoto that used to sit on the corner across from the wooded lot. You can really lose yourself there.

And it really is a destination, not just a place to shop. It's really ridiculously easy to just make a night out of it. Dinner... movie... ice cream afterwards... you're all set.

And the Cinema de lux 14 is pretty spiffy too. It's got its own bar/grill (which when I came in seemed maybe a little undersized, the tables seemed to be filled on the first night though I suppose it might lighten up once Bar Louie opens across the street). Saw Talladega Nights in one of the Director's Halls and the experience was very nice. A little lounge outside, reserved seating so I didn't have to worry about staking out Row G, Seat 6 30 minutes in advance, food brought right to your seat, leather seats, the believable threat that they'd kick you out for talking or using your cell phone... Very nice.

Geesh, I really shouldn't have this many thoughts about a place after one visit...