Ford City Mall — Attraction in Lake Township

I had some spare time after watching a movie at Ford City AMC 14, so I dropped in to see what Ford City Mall was all about. The word on the street is that this mall used to be the spot back in the day, but from the looks of it, it isn't what it used to be. I believe that saying this mall "still is outstanding" is totally an over statement because there is nothing outstanding about it other than the history of it. And I do believe it has stores that should not be part of it due to sales being pricey, or at least prices should be adjusted. I have mentioned this a few times to my colleagues, but I believe that malls should get with the program. There needs to be positions inner mall that allow clerks to sale on online websites like Amazon and eBay to keep sales going. There could even be an incentive by giving a certain percentage off if you visit the mall, but that is just a recommendation from someone like myself that shops online.

Out of the stores and restaurants inside, the ones that caught my eye were Customized Teez, The Modern Man, The Shop, Relax Center, Foot Locker, New Cajun Grill, Fruit God, and Smokehouse. As for 'Customized Teez', it had the cutest t-shirts that made me giggle. If you are into cute t-shirts relating to today's culture with funny captions, I recommend stopping in. At 'The Modern Man', I fell in love with the dress shoes and many of the flashy looking dress suits which came in velvet and sequin, but many of the items were totally out of my price range. I cannot remember the last time I purchased from a 'Foot Locker' store, but every now and then I like to stop in to view the lackluster selection of running shoes it has which nothings changed. As for 'The Shop', other than taking interest in the 'Dropout Bear' t-shirts (Kanye West trademark), I took an interest in a flight jacket inside of this store. I would say that 'The Shop' would be the only store I would shop at other than H&M. And finally, the last thing to catch my eye was the 'Relax Center' which is your place to get a traditional Chinese massage with prices ranging from $12 to $80 depending on your selection.

During this visit I wanted to tour its basement which is known as "the connection" (Originally called Peacock Alley from the late 1970s through the 1980s), but being that there was not much activity in it I left it alone.

The mall itself is beautiful considering that it has been around since 1965, and one of the first regional malls built in Chicago, but I personally believe that it is far from being salvaged. Despite its decline, it does have significance to those that live in the surrounding area, or those that have visited it in its prime, but I have to say that the only reason I would return at the moment would be to get a Chinese massage at the Relax Center, or to purchase a cute t-shirt from Customized Teez. Now, if I were a teenager, this mall would be the best thing since sliced bread, but since I'am in my late-thirties I will...

If I could give 0 or -1 stars I would. Today (7/21/2017), my family and I went to Ford City Mall for the first time in over 10 years and had the by-far worst experience we have ever had at any mall.

First, we entered through JC Penny's and then went to the mall section. It was very cold in there so my sister put her jacket and hood on. We were buying pretzels when all of a sudden an ugly lanky black european male "security guard" came up to us and told my sister to take her hood off. She did. My mother and I were paying for the pretzels so we didn't notice it. But , when she told us, we were outraged. My sister put it back on. My mother said she would get him if he bothered her again. A little while later he motioned for her to take her hood off and said "take your hood off". My mother told him to take his face off. His pale black face is the real threat as it represents years of torture and death to Brown people in America and around the entire earth in the past and present times.

Anyway, he tried to say more but my mother told him "don't bother me". He said"okay" and then contacted the other "security guards" to bother us. The other 2 "security guards" had brown skin but had black personalities. The first one that bothered us was a fat brown-skinned female who said: "excuse me, take your hood off". We just ignored her and kept walking. We were on our way out and we planned to never come back even if it was the last mall on the planet. But she followed us! She kept saying "excuse me" and even said "is y'all leaving?". I answered her stupid question in my mind by thinking: "Why would we stay in this cold place where the employees harass people over wearing hoods or hats to stay warm?". She even called another fat female that said "You can't wear hoods in the mall". We just kept walking and ignored both of them and their fat stupid selves. I wanted to tell them to take their fat off because they can't wear fat in the mall.

I am outraged that we are told that we are innocent until proven guilty but we didn't even bother anyone, create a disturbance, or commit a crime at that mall and we got followed out of the mall like we did or would just because my sister had on a hood. We have the right to wear whatever we want wherever we want to because we aren't in jail. Or are we? Those so called security guards were pretty much functioning like we were.

I absolutely do not recommend going to Ford City Mall. It is the WORST mall I have EVER been to, and going there it has been the WORST experience of this summer.

Notes: By Brown people I mean the people that are labeled as black or African. Brown people are not black.

europeans should be called black because they fit the definition.

Partial Google definition of black: (of a period of time or situation) characterized by tragic or disastrous events; causing despair or pessimism. full of anger or hatred. very evil or wicked.

Partial Webster Dictionary definition of...

Although I've been a long time fan since I grew up in the area, let me assure you that there is nothing you can't find in this small.

One of the 1st things you have to understand about Ford City and what makes it different is that the mall isn't just what's directly connected to the primary building, Ford City licenses out it's own parking lot because it has a lot of it for other companies to put their Place of business on usually from scratch.

It's gone from me as a child running around this place as far back as 97 to 2020 I can tell you right now that they have had at least 30 show up, grow up, and blow up, or go out of business trying.

Everything from shoe stores, mattress sellers, and chipotle have been in this insane almost 2 to 3 mile stretch of area that utilizes above ground and underground facilities, the only thing that I can truly consider lacking is the food court however Given the fact that it has direct competition within the parking lot as well as the giant connected Ihop within the main building.

PLUS traditional fast food places and Pan-Asian buffet across the street, it's easy to see why most companies may shy away from the food warzone of the area.

Even hotels are simple 1 to 2 block walk away from this area.

That being said I will addressed the neglected elephant in the Room, of what type of stores are on the inside of the main building, I'm not going to lie it's very cliche and almost to a depressing point but you have to factor in that Ford City is not just that building which is why the inside can be somewhat subpar.

Generally speaking the primary stores inside are jewelry stores, shoe stores, urban design clothing stores, another shoe store, absolutely no video game based entertainment locations but again to be fair Best Buy is literally across the street from the entire compound.

I will give kudos on making sure that it's in house movie theater is located in a separate building, you have no idea how annoying it is to have to go to a movie theater and it's hypothetically next to a food court or near a major entrance or place with foot traffic and here outside noise.

They even have electric vehicle parking which is at least in Chicago the difference between being up to standard and being left in the dust, mind you there's not many but there's not a lot of EV in this area either currently.

In short whether it's a family outing or friends visiting from out of town especially since the airport is less than 2 miles away, there is literally something for everyone not so much in them all but in the malls compound which I'm still not sure is the correct term for the area.

Food

Movies

Child Play area

Cell phone shops

All the classics are near but the scale...