Our local dead mall finally got the old food court lights working

I've been stopping by the Oak Ridge Mall off Route 22 every few months since 2019 just to see what's still hanging on. For years the food court area was so dim you could barely see the table tops, and the plants were all fake and dusty. But I went there last Saturday and someone actually replaced the burned out fluorescent tubes over the old Orange Julius spot. It's a small thing, but the light made the tile floor look almost clean for the first time in forever. The food court still has nobody in it, but at least now you can see how sad it really is. I wonder if the mall owners did it themselves or if a tenant asked for it. Has anyone else noticed a random upgrade in your local dead mall that just seemed out of place?

2 comments

2 Comments

carter.jennifer18d ago

oh man, the Oak Ridge Mall, I know that place. I was over at the Monroeville Mall food court a couple months back and they actually had a working water fountain in the middle. It was just this sad little gurgle but it was actually on and running. Made the whole area feel a little less like a ghost town even though it was totally empty. It's wild what a single working light or fountain can do to a space that's been dead for years. I'm with you, it's probably the owners doing it themselves on a slow day, nobody else cares enough at this point.

the_mia17d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, the Monroeville Mall food court. I grew up going to that place back when it was actually packed. Last time I was there I saw that fountain too. It's got this weird vibe where you can almost hear the echoes of kids screaming and parents yelling from twenty years ago. But honestly, what worked for me was just going during the weekday mornings. Found a guy at the Orange Julius counter who actually remembered the old recipes and made me one the old school way. Tasted exactly like 2003.