Missing your favourite lunch spot? How food courts are emerging from the pandemic
BNN Bloomberg
As workers in Toronto's Financial District scurry through the Brookfield Place food court on their lunch breaks, the darkened Starbucks at the space's far end looms large.
The coffee shop's stainless steel coffee machines have sat lifeless and its shelves empty since the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the building's denizens to work from home. Adjacent to the Starbucks, a closed Marché's is boarded up, but lines snake in front of McDonald's and Jimmy The Greek, and the building's property owner boasts of rising sales.
The scene is a sign of the crossroads at which food courts have found themselves since the pandemic upended work and shopping habits and stubbornly high inflation and labour shortages began rankling consumers.
Commercial landlords say they are slowly watching demand for their offerings tick upwards again, although the must still contend with vacancies from tenants that fled during COVID-19 shutdowns and with lower foot traffic due to fewer people in downtown cores amid the rise of remote and hybrid work.
