Are Food Courts Still A Thing

Anyone who came of age in the Seventies and Eighties had to have hung out at a mall food court. It's where you could get a burger or taco, a scoop of ice cream or a slice of pizza. However with the dwindling amount of shopping centers in this country, are they still going strong?

Shopping malls were the center of everyone's universe, thanks to cars and credit cards.Friday and Saturday nights were the most visited.If you were lucky you lived in a county that allowed shopping on Sundays.One shared aspect of  all of them was the food court.this was either a circular or square area, either in the basement or roof top of the mall.They made eating convenient.There were no anchor store restaurants to deal with;they always had that stuffy, old lady vibe ,thanks to the - well - old ladies who dined there.The food court offered  exciting s menu options without being too costly.Food courts gave many their first taste of Japanese  or Mexican. Some may have had their first veggie burger or crepe after shopping for something.Then food court cuisine started to creep into our home menus. There were machines to make curly fries and recipes for smoothies.They even changed with the are  and the growing need for better and healthier fare.We all thought they were going to last forever.That was until big box stores like Target and Wal-Mart exploded on the American shopping .The computer age happened and it was hello to at home shopping goodbye to that trip to Macy's or Sears.

There are still malls out there,especially where I live in New Jersey.Many builders however opted for a fancier outdoor type of  center, reminiscent of the first shopping malls.There are the ubiquitous  Starbucks along some kind of heath conscious eatery.The food is always trendy, from fish tacos to acai bowls.There's a certain amount of what's call chi-chi.These eateries may offer respite after a few hours of shopping but there's not the small town feeling that food courts surprisingly had.The chains that were once part of mall life such as McDonald's and Sbarro's are now single standing buildings on highways.If a mall has a popular chain eatery, it's usually set off to the side as In And Out Burger at New Jersey's Bridgewater Commons and Tommy Bahama 's at the state's Woodbridge Mall.They don't have kids lingering about.It 's just going in for a $15 burger.There is some hope though for food courts. Crepes du Nord is now seen in several malls, sort from the food court.Burger King has updated it's menu to include the Beyond Burger while McDonalds has restyled itself to resemble a space age bistro with table service.

Malls may be losing in popularity  but they are reinventing themselves.Food courts are following too.They'll both be around, with a new updated look.