Hey Nancy,
I live in Charlotte. We do have malls aplenty here. South Park Mall is massive uber-fancy but has some reasonable stores inside, like Nordstom and such. Carolina Place mall is in Pineville and is more of your basic suburban mall.
I don't know about a lot of particular places that you could try, but I would suggest you browse around Dilworth a little bit. It's a little neighborhood just outside of uptown. They have a couple little handmade jewelry & accessory boutiques. There's also a couple little fun places in NoDa, which is also right near uptown.
Charlotte is a newer city and still percolating, so it's still missing a lot of the flavor & features of a big city.
If you aren't a vegetarian, go to Mert's Heart and Soul uptown for BBQ. It's delooocious.
