Over the last few years, the city of Wilmington and the Cape Fear area have experienced a tremendous building boom. Shopping centers boast national chains such as Target, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Hecht's, Dillard's, Sears, JC Penney, Kohl's, Home Depot and others, all of which have enhanced the region's shopping choices considerably. Many upscale and specialty stores have also appeared throughout the area.

With all this new growth and the continuing popularity of the area, Real Estate is a lively business. "Plantations," gated communities and neighborhoods are developed so quickly that natives have been heard to say they occasionally get lost because of the changing landscape. However, in spite of the rapid growth, new housing in the area still remains quite affordable.

Wilmington is one of the exceptional cities on the eastcoast that has the beach, the city, and golf courses all together in one community. The most popular golf courses include: Country Club of Landfall, Beau Rivage Resort & Golf Club, Echo Farms Golf & Country Club, and The Cape Golf & Racquet Club. All of the major golf courses in Wilmington are centered among some of the best developements in the area.

Wilmington remains the educational hub of the southeastern North Carolina coast, with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College within its boundaries. Miller-Motte Business College and a branch of Mount Olive College are also in Wilmington.

The city holds the distinction of being the cultural center for not only this corner of the state, but also the whole North Carolina coastline. Performances by touring and home-based theater, dance and music companies enliven the local stages of Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts downtown and Kenan Auditorium and Trask Coliseum on the campus of UNCW. Writers, artists and musicians are evident in abundance. The Louise Wells Cameron Museum of Art is a showcase of regional and international artists.

The film industry lends an exciting opportunity for spotting the occasional celebrity or just watching the process of making movies. For many years, filmmaking accounted for a significant portion of the local economy; it still has the potential for growth because of Wilmington's well-established film industry infrastructure. The cornerstone of the local film industry, EUE/Screen Gems Studios, is complemented by a seasoned crew base, an active regional film commission and a large talent pool. Since the first movie filmed here in 1983 (Dino DeLaurentiis' Firestarter) Wilmington has been home to more than 300 movies and seven television series, including Matlock and Dawson's Creek and currently, One Tree Hill and Surface. Stars spotted in recent years include Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Katherine Hepburn, Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Mathew Modine, Sharon Stone, Patrick Swayze, Julie Harris, John Travolta and Anthony Hopkins. Linda Lavin, Broadway star and a woman known affectionately as "Alice" from the '70s TV series, lives downtown and works closely with the Community Arts Center. Pat Hingle, a Hollywood character actor for many years, lives in Carolina Beach and is still active in the film scene.

As North Carolina’s principal deep-water port, the North Carolina State Port at Wilmington and some of the industrial complexes north of downtown host hundreds of ships and barges from many nations every year. The river recently has been dredged and deepened so that larger cargo ships and some of the cruise ships can now dock in Wilmington.