A year or two ago, Arizona Center was a destination for shoppers in need of Kokopeli socks or shot glasses blazoned with cacti. No more, no more! The kitschy tourist shops are gone, except for the flag store and the sports logo store. Most of the retail store fronts are simply empty.
Restaurants are still around and range from pizza-by-the-slice through mediocre Mexican to kitschy family dining to high-end sit-down dining. If you're a conventioneer at a downtown hotel and want a walk and some palm-tree-infused atmosphere, you've got lots of dinner choices.
The major reason to come here, at this point, is that you live/work in or near downtown and want either (a) to see a movie or (b) to sit by a fountain and eat. Both of those functions are quite adequate and mean you took light rail or walked. DO NOT use the parking ramp. The few times I've tried it, I've ended up in a line of exiting cars with unreadable tickets. The parking system doesn't work, and it dumps you into some odd bit of "turn this way only" lanes at the edge of downtown.
If it's tourist kitsch you need for pals back home, you're now stuck trekking to Old Town Scottsdale.