Despite how so much of this place has deminished over the years and seeing it be a shell of what it once was I still find myself coming back here time and time again.
I don't know if it's because of the nostalgia, melancholic comfort or to pay respect to what it once was but I still like being here to visit what little is around.
The skate rink is wonderful to skate on.
The holidays, especially with the decorum is still so beautiful every year.
It's worth visiting this place for the ambience rather than for the shopping experience, I think, anyway...
Maxamillion Cassius
2 months ago
Lloyd Center is, in plain truth, a ruin. I know not how one could behold it and see otherwise. And yet, were I the sort who delights in wandering the remains of former glory, I might grant it five stars for the melancholy alone.
If I took pleasure in celebrating the decline of American consumerism, I would applaud it gladly. If overpriced, second-tier mall food stirred my soul, I would sing its praises. And if I merely sought a place to loiter indoors on a cold day, bathed in generous natural light, then yes, five stars might fall easily from my hand.
But alas, I am not that person. What stands here now feels less like a mall and more like a paused thought, abandoned mid-sentence. The city would do well to stop tiptoeing around it and instead summon the courage to repurpose the space into something living, something honest, something useful.
I have seen many sad malls in my time. Truly, I have. Yet this stands among the saddest of them all, not for what it is, but for what it once promised to be.
Visited this mall in 2021 — it felt like a ghost town. Only a few stores were open, the food court was bare. I ended up getting Dairy Queen since the other option was bad Chinese food. The ice rink was the only lively spot, but there were homeless people wandering around both inside and outside.
Unlike any other mall. Very local and community-oriented vendors, to include a pet store that adopts animals and refurbishes pet supplies, a custom lightsaber craftsman, a tailor that makes men's athletic wear onsite, and many more. Auntie Anne's and B&N with a surprisingly deep cafe hold down the old franchise energy, while the local Stoopid Burger has wild and tasty fare in a 50s era diner setting above it all. Factor in the ice skating rink, and the dynamic mall walker parade that takes over every Sunday at opening time, and you have a very memorable and fascinating example of how Portland revived this once-deserted mall.
Although there were way fewer people and way fewer shops, this mall is still beautiful. It has a Christmas Tree inside for the Holidays. It still has a few places to eat such as Chicken Connection which I found on the food court. It is sad seeing signs seemingly everywhere that offer huge discounts such as ones you would normally see a places nearing the end :(
