It’s Saturday afternoon and you’re scrolling through your favorite food delivery app. The options are endless, but the experience feels empty. Restaurant after restaurant, menu after menu. We have digitized so many of our experiences and sure it’s convenient, but it’s also isolating. Compare that to a Saturday in 1995 at your local mall. Instead of scrolling through products on Amazon, you just walked the 1st and 2nd floor end to end, searching all the storefronts and popping into several. You just finished up at Spencers and you know there’s only one thing left to do… hit the 3rd floor food court. As you come up over the top of the final escalator, you can already see the neon signs, the smells of food from around the world, the buzz of everyone chatting in the open space. You could even hear the woosh of the waterfall that runs from the food court down to the first floor. For a 10-year-old from a small town, it was a magical dining experience.
As you stepped off the escalator, it was time for a plan. Your parents, brother, and yourself are in a huddle concocting the perfect plan of execution. Like you’re Peyton Manning at the line of scrimmage, Mom is calling out the plays. Your brother is going to Sakura Japan for the chicken teriyaki, Dad is banging a right for a burger from McDonalds, Mom is walking with you to the opposite side to hit the Greek Kitchen, which is next to Sbarro for your slice of pepperoni pizza. Don’t worry Sakura is on the way so you can snag that toothpick sample of chicken teriyaki. The plan is in place, now we execute and meet back at the planned table section by the rail so we can take in the view.
As you implement the plan you are overwhelmed by the different sights and smells. Cinnabon mixing with garlic breadsticks, teriyaki glaze wafting off the nearly empty plate of samples from Sakura (they couldn’t keep up with the sampling demand). One corner of the food court had the arcade. You could hear the robotic sound effects, coins dropping and kids giggling as you walked by. In the center was a big open area with a waterfall that led all the way down to the bottom. If you were lucky it was Christmas and the area was filled with car sized ornaments and bows hanging from the ceiling. There was a constant buzz of chatter that sort of filled the background like a fuzzy tv channel. Each restaurant competed with their big neon glowing signage. It was sensory overload, but in a good 90s kind of way.
The plan has gone off without a hitch. Everyone had similar waits and one by one we all reconnected back at the designated table. You have now entered phase 2 of the food court… people watching. You’re tucked in by some floral arrangements next to the railing. Your view stretches from top to bottom. You’re like Steve Irwin on the hunt. You spot your neighbors down on floor 2 walking to a store. Too far to yell to them, but still fun you saw them. As your gaze scans over the food court seating area, you see your buddy from class coming this way with his family. Suddenly your family lunch turns into a community event. Tables slide together, parents chatting, kids talking about the toys they just got from KB Toys. Your brother is trying his best to mack on your buddy’s older sister. It all just organically happens.
Yes, ordering shoes, food, toys, etc from your phone from the comfort of your couch is so convenient, but you miss out on that human connection. You miss all those organic moments of running into a friend you haven’t seen in years, the family that moved a town over last fall, your teacher who you never see out of the classroom. The mall and especially the food court really was a whole experience and definitely one that seems dead now. I don’t know about you but I’d trade the convenience of our digital world for interactions like this. We really didn’t know what we had back then and now it’s mostly gone. The malls that are left are barely hanging on and even if you go most people are walking around buried in their phones. Too busy to look up. We are no longer overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the world around us and instead are overwhelmed by the constant pings of our digital worlds.
Dreamers, what are some of your go-to food court spots? Do you have any memories to share?