What could be more fun to do downtown than go shopping?

A few weeks ago, I caught up with my friend Elizabeth Hudson, the editor of Our State Magazine for a girls' day trip along State Street and Greensboro.

[soft music] It is a beautiful day in Greensboro, perfect for exploring the hidden gems along State Street with a dear friend.

Elizabeth, hey!

- Hey!

It's so good to see you!

I love it here, because it's like a little town within the city.

It's certainly this hidden treasure of Greensboro, to me.

What I know about the area is that it really sprung up at the turn of the 20th century, like around the 1920s or so.

A fella named Walter McAdoo, who was a developer in Greensboro, started this area as kind of this residential and commercial district that was intended to serve the surrounding mill communities.

There's some of my favorite shops in Greensboro that we're gonna go to.

I can't wait to show you those.

One of my favorite places here is called Vida Pour Tea Shop.

It is just a respite from the world.

You walk in, the owner, Sarah Chapman, she's amazing.

We call her the Tea Whisperer.

- She was bringing a friend, and I would love to show you around.

So we are a place to come and relax, and get a cup of tea.

What we do is we try to match people with what they need for the day.

I studied abroad in Thailand, so I wanted to bring in this aspect of fair trade through tea, which does not grow easily here.

Tea is as old as time, and it comes from special family farms, so the sourcing side of that is really special, as well.

- Next, we walked up the block to another of Elizabeth's favorite shops, at 500 State Street.

Elizabeth, I know you've been to boutiques before.

What's special about Lillo Bella?

- The owner is there every time I've ever walked in the door.

She has got a big smile on her face, her name's Emem.

And you really do get this amazing personal experience when you go to her shop.

- I've always known I wanted to do this for a living, 'cause I grew up in a family that is obsessed with fashion.

[laughing] And my mom and my aunts were very fashionable women, and I kinda looked up to them, and I knew, I just knew, as a little girl that this is what I wanted to do.

It's about making people happy, and seeing people walk out, and feel good in what they wear, and be able to stand up straight, because they feel good.

- [Deborah] Elizabeth was right.

I loved the beautiful fabrics at Lillo Bella, the options for crafting a personal style, and Emem's energy was everything.

For a relaxing lunch spot, we chose Cafe Pasta several doors back at 305 State Street.

- It's just a really great place for lunch, one of those places that I feel like only the locals know about.

If you were to come to Greensboro, and you were looking for restaurants, I'm not sure that one might pop up on your radar, so I'm excited for you to experience that one with me.

- Elizabeth, what are you gonna get?

- Well, we're in an Italian restaurant, so I have to go lasagna.

- Oh, yes.

[Elizabeth chuckles] Well you talked so well about that chicken piccata.

I'm going for that.

- It's great.

- Here's to girls afternoon.

- Cheers.

[glasses clink] - [Server] All right, ladies, here we go.

I've got one lemon chicken piccata for you.

- [Deborah] Oh, that looks fabulous.

- [Server] Good, good!

And a lasagna.

- [Deborah] After lunch, we did what any self-respecting women on a day of leisure would do.

We stepped a few doors down for handcrafted chocolates at Rhyme and Reason, naturally.

- Hi, welcome.

- Hey, how are you?

- I'm doing well.

How are y'all doing this afternoon?

- Great.

- Just fine, thank you.

- Excellent.

Here at Rhyme and Reason Chocolate Company, we are bean to bar chocolate makers, so we import cocoa beans from different places around the world.

They come to us like that, and then here in the shop, we roast them, kinda like you roast coffee beans, and then we grind 'em up and mix them with our different ingredients, and turn them into all of our different flavors.

We've got kind of different flavors that we'll rotate around, so if you come in the shop, there might be something different in the case every day.

- Oh, I love that orange spice.

- You're right about that coffee toffee chocolate.

I'm gonna call that the breakfast chocolate.

- [Elizabeth] Oh, it's really good.

- It's gonna go with breakfast- - Yes.

- For us, coffee.

- As well it should.

- Right.

- The visit to State Street was so worth it.

Easy to park and walk, and even more shops and restaurants to explore.

I think you'll like this hidden gem in Greensboro, too.

All four places that Elizabeth and I visited are on State Street in Greensboro within walking distance.

Vida Pour Tea, Cafe Pasta and Grille, Lilla Bella Boutique, and Rhyme and Reason Chocolate Company.

Visit their websites for more information.