Death Of The Mall Food Court 

"Food Court" should be a show where restaurants get to confront their reviewers

Just remember, the cookie stand is not part of the food court. It's an autonomous unit for mid-mall snacking.

I live in Tennessee, and the best teriyaki in town exists at a mall food court. They’ve been open since the early 2000’s and are basically always packed, and it’s been the same Japanese family the whole time. I’m fact, I’d almost be inclined to say that every other place that tries to open in the food court bombs terribly and goes out of business in a month, because every single person that goes through that damn food court gets teriyaki 😂

The Mall Food Court, to me, used to be like finding an inn or a tavern in the middle of the night, during times when horse and buggies were still the fastest way to travel. It’s been raining all night, the coachman is soaked to the bone, the passengers are bored, all weary and tired. Much like how my family and I might feel after spending so much time walking around the mall, my parents feeling much like that coachman after dealing with my sister and I all day. But there! In the distance! What could it be?! Yes, it’s shelter! I mean, it’s the food court! That’ll pick our spirits back up! It shall revitalize us! Ohh, happy days are here!

You know what I miss about the mall? Getting the thing I wanted THAT DAY, in my hands, walking out the door with it. Instead of getting stolen off my porch.

I worked in a mall food court for a few years. Great work experience for sure. This was back in the Nineties when the mall was still a hive of activity.

Malls and food courts are still a thing in many European countries because often malls are located in more central areas in the cities reachable also by public transport. So swarms of teenagers can enjoy some trash food without having to be chauffeured there

Most of the casinos here in Vegas are taking out their buffets and putting in food halls. Most of them have local establishments right next to the national chains.

back in the 80s, I used to go to the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, CA.. if the food court was a new Chinese Restaurant, called Panda Express. It was their first and only location. I always got Orange Chicken and Beef/Broccoli. It was my favorite lunch spot at the mall. Little did I know what they would turn into today....

watching this video is like watching a glimpse of a time long gone. I'm glad I grew up in the 90s and got experience this culture.

When I think mall food court I think Sbarro. You could get a couple meatballs with marinara sauce and a chunk of garlic bread for like $2 back in the day. Loved that place.

I'm glad the mall near me is still quite busy pretty much all the time and I've never seen the food court not completely packed, even in the middle of the week. Also please credit Sal for the footage at 8:33.

It really depends on the mall. I just got back from Tysons Corner and that food court is always jumping.

in the late 80's I worked in a record store in a little, run-down mall (since torn down & replaced by a shopping strip). It wasn't big enough to have a food court, just four or five not very good food places scattered throughout it. But hearing the name Orange Julius always makes me think of it. Nobody who actually worked at that mall would eat at the OJ there because it was so filthy. There were even rumors that they re-used cups to save money. This one time the entire daytime staff was fired as a group because they had a big food-fight, driving the few customers they had out of the place. Finally the franchise dropped the location (or maybe they couldn't pay the fees, I don't know) and they struggled on for a few more months as "Orange Drinks and Burgers" using handwritten cardboard signs before going out of business.

At 8:35 that footage belongs to Sal, that’s his footage and he should be credited!

Give Sal the credit he has earned.

Would love to see you give some credit to @Sal for the footage shown at 8:34 he makes great content that should be recognized!

My local dying mall just put a bar in the middle of the food court that absolutely no one goes to. The only reason I go to the mall is for a particular shoe place and every time I walk through there I don’t see a single soul at the food court. Just elderly people walking around it in the winter to get their steps in.

As someone who lived in Hudson, WI, a suburb of the Twin Cities, throughout the 90s and early 00s, I quickly became spoiled by my proximity to the MOA. It took decades before I could appreciate how unique it is, and why it’s still such a tourist destination. It’s still amazing and fun to go there, even at 36!

I moved from the US to Poland amd its crazy the difference in mall culture here. Malls here are busy, and people are everywhere. It's great, like being back in my hometown mall as a teen

quincy markets food hall in boston has been there since like the 90s. I live near boston and do remember going there for food then. It always had all the restaurants and what not. Well at least before 2017

I live in Toronto and have been to Sherway mall so many times, had no idea it was technically the first mall to have a food court. A nice fun fact I can share now well done

This makes me sad. I do not like online shopping. I like the experience of walking through the mall.

I was just talking to my coworker about this topic and how it is strange that Public Houses/Eatery's are incredibly popular. They are basically the same as mall food courts minus the shopping but are booming compared to the former.

In 1992 the Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate opened in the city of Moreno Valley, CA (USA). In addition to the mentioned downfalls that plagued other malls throughout the country, the Moreno Valley Mall was also hit hard when the nearby U.S. Air Force Base was reallocated, in the second half of the 1990s, from an active base to an Air Reserves training base which greatly reduced the number of military personal and their families who contributed to the economy of not only the Moreno Valley Mall, but to the wider community in general. Despite all of these constant setbacks, the Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate continues to rebound and is actually still a popular hang-out for teens (my freshman-high school niece a testament to this fact.) The continued resurgence of the mall is likely supported by the large multiplex theater that was added sometime around 2010, as well as the bowling and video games entertainment center, "Round 1" that was added not long after the theater was built.

@8:53 just to clarify, The city is called Tampa. Tampa Bay is a body of water.

Uhh, Quincy Market's "food hall" has been there for decades, literally. Been going to Boston on trips since 1998 and it was there. I lived in the area in 2013-2015 and it was there. Don't know where you got this thing about 2017.

Fun fact: Businessman James Rouse was the grandfather of actor Edward Norton.

Please give Sal proper credit for his footage at 8:33. You seem to have incorrectly credited it to Business Insider. Also, unrelated, but you spelled "weird" wrong in the video tags.

Malls "failed" because they only wanted "National" stores and refused to deal with smaller Mom/Pop vendors pricing the spaces well out of range leaving the malls full of all the same stores with no diversity of specialty stores. Then when the big boxes left the malls they also left huge stores that Mom/Pop also cannot afford/afford to stock. The internet did not kill the mall, mall operators killed the mall.

Go to an Asian mall. The food courts are amazing dozens and dozens of mom and pop food stalls with 1 or 2 dishes.

I remember in the 70's, when malls first opened, you had restaurants (oftentimes cafeterias) scattered in many areas. Even Woolworths had one, and almost all department stores (even Sears) had them as well. One of the main reasons our mall got a food court (besides it being a stylist thing of the times) was to combine services. In a food court, clean up of tables was taken over by a separate service...tables, trays washed, and centrally located bathrooms made them clean places to sit and eat

Food Courts are still doing well

Me who just got Panda from my mall's food court yesterday:👁️👄👁️

Malls here are changing from store/food places into a more experience/food style to keep things going. Many anchor store are changing more into gyms and other places that you can't really experience shopping online. Of course you can't fill the entire mall this way, but that is what many are doing to keep foot traffic going. It has help one mall near here which was pretty much dead gain a bit of life back.

Actually, Costco's food court area came about because the small area, the size of one of their clothing islands, that they had set aside for the hot dog cart when trying it out in the South Seattle location kept overflowing. The sample stalls on weekends were there when they started opening up to the wider consumer market in the early 90s/late 80s. They still serve hotdogs and drinks for roughly the same price that the cart used.

Glad I learned the difference between food courts and food halls. Food halls have been booming, whether in the DC suburbs I previously lived to even smaller cities like OKC that I recently visited.

The only malls I've been to recently that don't feel completely dead are the ones that have transitioned towards a "food hall" allowing local restaurants to move in. As corporations move on from malls they will have to either adapt and allow local and small business or go out of business. Another thing that does wonders for business is selling off parts of the usually oversized parking lots to other businesses. People will come visit the new restaurant, convince store, or whatever and then might consider stopping in the mall too since it's right there and convenient.

A weird one. The local malls near me still have Food Courts. *Update:* I see, you guys mean the POPULARITY of Food Court. They really had a certain era.

Food trucks have definitely experienced a rapid growth in quantity and quality. I remember when the food truck was known as a "roach coach" and the food was cheep. In South Korea, they have "gut trucks," which are basically a minimart on wheels. Wonder if that could take off in the States.

I keep seeing all these dead malls / dead food court videos on RU-vid. Its not happening everywhere you know. Almost all the malls and food courts in the greater Houston area are still bustling and doing just fine.

Thanks for this... blast from the past❤

Around here, the first malls had different anchor stores, different restaurants, and all the stores were unique. You could go to different malls and enjoy the new selection. Pretty soon all the shoes stores, clothing stores etc were all the same company. All the food stores were all big chain shops. You have no competition for products (every shoe store carried the same shoes etc), and the food was all the same dozen places. It was easy to lose interest.

Thw food court indowntown Toronto is always packed. University students, shoppers, people going home from work. Ive had people actually sit beside me cause theres literally no place to sit. Usually we all like our space but when your tired and hungry that all goes out the window

Yup when I was young the best Chinese food I had outside of China was at the mall. This little old lady was the cook and I’ve never had an egg roll like her sense and should have asked her what was in it in 2006 before I moved back south

Give @sal credit for his footage.

Please credit @Sal for the footage at 8:33 You know its his you deleted his comments calling you out twice.

It's no big mystery... Super-centers (ie: Walmart) are the biggest reason malls died. That and the extremely high prices in mall stores (which used to be popular because of lower prices).

We didn't have a food court in our mall in the 70's. We had cafes in Woolworth, Sears & JC Penny and a stand alone burg/hot dog joint. Later, McD arrived and it wasn't until late 80's we got a food court.

I live in New Bedford Massachusetts. The Dartmouth mall is a bus ride away. They have an auntie Anne's. I don't really get any food from the food court though. I grew up in a small town called Somerset. In Swansea, the next town over. They had a mall. It closed some years ago. Still not sure what they're doing with the space. It pretty much died, once Walmart moved across the parking lot. Instead of staying attached to the mall.

Las Vegas casinos closed their buffets during Covid. They came back as Food Courts except for a dozen or so still operating.

Hi! Just wanted to mention that at 8:34 the footage was incorrectly credited. The original footage is from @Sal. Would just like to see some credit to him, whether that’s reuploading the video or just updating the description.

My local mall food court has 12 -14 different restaurants and is thriving. Places like Orange Julius and Auntie Annie’s are also in the mall but not part of the food court. Downtown, there are two large food halls.

I'm so happy to see Pastamania chronicled here

West Edmonton Mall has a waiter service style section of food court as well as two traditional food courts. It’s owned by the same group who owns Mall of America.

The Top 3 memories that I have that involves the Mall Food Courts are, the first is that I could Remember when I was a Teen In the 90's and me and my friends use to spent some of the day at the Arcades, and come lunch time we where left with little choice but to eat at the Food Court. And whenever we did I always felt like it was a Nice Repave from all of the Laud Arcade Machines. As I found it more often than not for some reason I was really uncomfortable in there for some reason. Then my next Memory of Mall Food Courts would be when i was a Kid one of my Aunts worked at one of the establishments there and because of it we usually go to that Mall and order food from the establishment that she works at on Saturdays. Then the last memory that I'm going to share is when I tried out Orange Julius for the first time in a Mall Food Court that I haven't been to in like forever as it is over 3 Hours away, and as a Kid that first taste of Orange Julius Blew me away, so much so I felt like I needed at least ten More Cups. And Another fun fact when I was first searching for a Job some of the first placed that I tried my luck on was a Food Court at a local Mall.

I loved the mall food court. LA still has many food courts in the malls, so they haven't died out, but there are less stalls than there used to be with the vendors changing out all the time.

There are still a few malls in the Twin Cities that are thriving, including the first indoor mall ever created (Southdale). I blame it on the fact that we spend half the year in extreme cold. The malls are a nice escape in the dead of winter. You can wander around without a coat and the indoor greenery, natural light and fountains have a soothing effect when everything outside is cold and gray.

theyre WILD for that intro lmao

Quincy Market in Faneuil hall has been a food hall since the 80’s at least.

My local mall (Metro North Mall) didn't have a food court. It did had places to eat throughout the mall. When the mall was about 30 percent full, they blocked off section of the mall to put in a food court. Was like that for years and no progress was made. Eventually, main section closed down and gotten torn down.

The food court was someplace where we could grab a drink or a snack or a full fledged meal from and then could walk around the rest of the mall before we headed back to our car. The biggest one here was the Del Amo Mall in Torrance, California and then the Glendale Galleria Mall in Glendale, California. They are still open but are about only 40 to 45% full with shops and businesses.

The food court in Quincy Market in Boston has been around since it's renovation in 1976. It's been featuring local food establishments from the Boston area since then.

My local mall is still doing well, but I've noticed that all the food court options have become more independent and upscale (with Auntie Anne's being the only notable survivor from the old days). I don't miss the taste of Sbarro's pizza, but sometimes I miss being able to buy two slices and a drink with a five dollar bill while still getting change back which is something I don't see the fancy pizza joint they have now ever offering.

In High School, this was the best place to score some alternative smokables.

I still like mall Food Court it's great. 😀👍

there are those of us where the terms "food court" and sBarro's" has a special meaning

Food courts are much better because you can mix and match food from different restaurants. The alternative you mention usually don't have a shared seating area, meaning all parties of a group need to buy from the same restaurant and you can't get a hamburger from one and a drink from another, for example. That said, I don't know the entire Europe and the issue I mention is more clear in The Netherlands, from my personal Experience. Portugal and Spain seem to have a different concept. The Dutch also want people at their malls for the least amount of time possible, there's nothing appealing on them, some have tight hallways and store owners expect customers to go in, spend money, leave quickly.

omg as soon as you mentioned food hall, I thought about Quincy Market, just like reading my mind

How did I miss this episode. I just went into a mall for the first time in forever and it shocked me how every food court spot was basically some variation on the cheapest food variations, especially asiatic foods that were americanized. Like I like a good noodle dish with teriyaki, marvelous orange, or other chicken/pork meal as much as the next guy. I don't need 3/4 stalls being that when I'm in a huge mall. That's gonna make the walk back really terrible. I'd rather just have a sit down joint at that point.

My local mall is definitely starting to die, but the food court is still home to Five Guys, Surf City Squeeze, Hot Dog on a Stick, Sbarro, Charley’s, Panda Express, Sarku Japan, and local Mediterranean and Mexican restaurants. Still a pretty solid lineup.

Food courts live on in airports all over.

A local mall that we go to once or twice a year has a famous footlocker. We were there about a month ago to get some trail running shoes. All of the stores were crap that you can order online. Like one is gnc which I have never been in. Some other random shoe store which we went in once before and they did not have a large enough selection of what we were looking for. Several other stores that I just do not recall and the weirdest thing of all was a cornor unit that was a garage sale. I kid you not it was all second hand stuff. We were on a time crunch for the day and just did not have time to stop in. Then many many empty stores.

This is why Costco does NOT have a “food court”. It’s more like the Costco Snack Bar

In the late 70's thru the mid 80's every time I went to the mall with my mother I scored an Orange Julius! Good times!

When I was in high school in the late 1960's my mother and I would go to the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, CA. The food court had Chinese food that came on real plates with real utensils. I really miss the huge CCostPlus store in the basement.

I remember the hot dog on the stick food court! I also remember my local mall having an Arby’s, they had good potato cakes and the cherry turnovers

The Sherway Gardens food court from 1971 was called Gourmet Fair. It had your typical Chinese, Italian and also Ukrainian Caravan had deli ious perogative, Nd combos a little pricier than competitors, but worth the extra money. There was also Bittners for German style fare, and Carol's Cheesecak Company so delicious. In the 89s, the mall expanded and the food court was relocated under big tent and the former gourmet fair became stores.

I been to a food court in my hometown and it wasso good and I miss going to the mall and food court

We have mall food courts here and they are crazy busy.

Love the shout-out to UMass (random shot of Worcester Dining Commons)--an amazing dining program!

Between the food court and the mall proper, the one near me had maybe seven stores plus the movie theater open at the beginning of 2020 when I went to see Sonic the Hedgehog, the last movie I'd watch there before the pandemic. When I came back for the first time to watch Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the theater was all that was left.

I lived really close to a mall growing up and there were many times that we’d go there solely to get dinner from the food court. They had really good stuff there. My obsession was this place that made sandwiches with these light airy waffles. Pretty sure it closed. Rip.

Where I lived in the early 2000s the mall food court was the only place where I could get Chick Fil A

Food courts are still alive and strong in my country, though.

Malls and foodcourts are the best. I hope they make a comeback. Where i live the mall and foodcourt are still doing good

I lived in Montreal, and here, food courts are still up and running today. But I would like to try the European food hall.

Going with the 'Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex' clip? Classic

I don't think they stopped using food courts.

The title should emphasize the "Death of an American Food Court" because in other countries food courts or food halls are still striving.

I grew up in anchorage Alaska. The mall downtown had a Hawaiian food shop at the food court. I went there all the time especially in high school. I went back last year and they were gone :’(

I lived in San Francisco in 2014 and there already was a food hall there, also called such, with live music too. I think it got overwhelmed by the food truck courts though. Also I think LA has one even older than that

"who could say no to a panda" made me think of "sexual harassment, Panda"

Classic Food Halls in the U.S., like Eastern Market in Washington D.C. or Detroit or Quincy Market in Boston, are MUCH older than Food Courts, and there used to be many, many more.

I think food courts have not "fallen"-- it just depends on the mall and the location. In the city where I live, one mall has a very busy food court, packed with diners almost everyday of the week, while another in a different mall looks rather empty.

The demise of malls.😢 Never going to get over it.

I’m surprised to hear Paramus Park was the first food court. Was great for a long time. Now it’s a ghost town

Roseland's shopping mall in Sydney had a food court in 1965.

This feels more like a video about the general decline in shopping malls than the death of food courts. My local mall, and the food court, are doing just fine.

1956 - 2005 over 1500 malls were built in the u.s is mind blowing 😮