Andy's Angles: The Mall

I suffered through just about every aspect of the downtown Scranton mall-- the announcement, the lawsuits, the endless wheeling and dealing to get it built, the implosion, the construction, the opening, the glory days, the decline...  So, the place has special fascination for me.

After some downtown business Wednesday morning, I drive across the street for a visit.  Boscov's was busy for a weekday morning.  The rest was business as usual-- a ghost town.

The mall's newest feature is the revamped food court.  A couple of the mall food court standards are still around.  The rest has been cubicled off.  Local business rent the stalls for locally made crafts and food.

Great idea!  Unfortunately, those businesses are here on weekends only, and show me any business that can exist on weekend only business.  If this was supposed to pump new life in to the place, it's off to a slow start.

Plus, the only reason to walk through the food court-- to get to the bridge over to Steamtown, was a disappointment.  The doors were locked!

New restaurants, a medical center, and an aquarium are allegedly on the way.

You just have to wonder how long an empty building can remain open.