Andy's Angles: Gutted

The Marketplace at Steamtown, formerly the Mall at Steamtown is blowing up the food court and is starting over.  The food court has been challenged from day one.  I don't think it was ever filled.  There was a tremendous turnover.  I remember being fond of this stand that made a decent spaghetti pie.  It didn't last long.

From what I read, the idea is to get rid of the traditional food court concept and make it more of a marketplace for locally produced/made food, plus arts and crafts, etc.

It doesn't sound like a bad idea.  First all, the food court was all but empty.  Second, does anyone really go out of their way for food court food?

I can think of one exception.  Anytime I vacationed in Baltimore, which was frequent back in the day, I made sure to hit a mall for Sbarro Pizza.  Always loved it.  For a while, the closest was near Stroudsburg.  A check of Sbarro's web site shows the chain has abandoned most of Pennsylvania.  It's unfortunate. 

It will be interesting to see how the new concept works.