Lincoln Square Mall — Local services in Urbana

For many locals, this is known as a "dead mall". But it's surprisingly lively. It has few of the traditional mall stores, but is pretty big on community events. There is an awesome cafe, Piatos, serving the mall. As well as the Common Ground food coop, and Tang's Dynasty Chinese restaurant. There is a community oriented game store - Gopher Mafia Games that is full just about every night of the week, and often spills out into the mall with extra tables. In addition, there's a new children't play place called Spark, a fitness center - Cardinal, and several churches.

On any given night you might find couples ballroom dancing in the halls, or children learning dance, or people exercising with Tai-Chi.

For a dead mall, there's a...

I like Lincoln square Mall. Why you ask? Well, let's see. There is a lot of space to get a good walk in. That's a plus when it's cold out and you don't want to go to the gym. There's interesting stores , half of which always seem to be closed so I can't browse them, but it's an eclectic bunch of places. There is a sandwich shop there and I've been told is superb by a few people , just today I perused their menu and plan to eat there next week. Plus one of my favorite places ever has moved into a shop in this mall, Record Swap. Love that place. There is also a common ground food co-op. Art supplies, sewing needs and interesting people....

Nice place to visit during business hours, I especially love the IDEA store and the grocery store. I was completely unable to find any public restrooms which is odd for a shopping mall... Had to use the restroom in the Kombucha place because I think that is literally the only public restroom in the mall and they didn't seem to care that people were using their restroom without ordering anything.

It is super lame how Baldarotta's has completely taken over the communal seating area where the food court used to be. Tons of tables but they're always empty because you're only allowed to sit there if you ordered something from...