The food court at Northgate Mall went from packed to a ghost town in under a year

I've been hitting Northgate in Springfield for years, mostly to check on the old anchor store spaces. The food court used to be the only busy spot, maybe 8 months ago. You'd see a line at the Chinese place, the pretzel stand had people, and all the tables were full of folks from the office park. Went back last Tuesday and it was a different world. The Chinese spot is just a dark counter now, the pretzel place is gone, and there's maybe one table with people. The only thing left open is a sad-looking cookie kiosk. The big change was when the big insurance company moved its offices out of the business park across the street. That killed the lunch crowd overnight. It's crazy how fast a place can die when it loses its one real customer base. Has anyone else seen a mall area collapse that fast after a single business left?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannahs7116h ago

Yeah but that insurance company moved like two years ago. The food court held on for a while after that. The real killer was when they shut down the movie theater in the west wing last fall. That was the last thing bringing families in.

jake1747h ago

Our local strip mall lost its pharmacy last year (the only one for miles) and half the other stores closed within six months. The key was the dry cleaner hanging on, because they started doing free pickup for the senior apartments next door. That one service kept their door open and gave people a reason to still park there, which helped the sub shop next to them stay in business too. It feels like you need at least one practical, needed store to act as an anchor when the big draw leaves.