rev:text
| - I've always referred to this area as "The Circle of Death" due to the round-a-bouts that you must navigate through in order to get from the I-17 to the shopping center itself. This was a terrible idea then and it's still a terrible idea now. As a result, I will do everything in my power to avoid dealing with it during rush-hour.
Okay, now that I've finished ranting about that, do you know what's sad? I've lived practically five minutes from Norterra for almost a full decade and very rarely do I ever visit this shopping plaza.
The reasons typically consist of the occasional trip to Harkins or a rare dinner that's the result of receiving a gift card from some lame chain that I would otherwise avoid. Back in the day, this Harkins was one of the first ones to go digital. Even today, it's still a pretty decent Harkins, but that's not enough to really lure me here regularly.
I can count the times I've roamed the outdoor "mall" area on one hand. The Walmart across the street is a complete zoo, because you're required to navigate through one gigantic parking lot in order to reach it, as well as every other store in that area. It's just a real pain to deal with.
Restaurants on both sides are your usual corporate chains that really offer absolutely nothing to set itself apart from every other damned plaza in Phoenix. They recently opened up a Carlos O'Briens, but based on Yelp reviews, you might be better off sticking to their old location.
For some people, I'm sure this center is convenient, but I'd much rather deal with shopping on Bell Road or Lake Pleasant.
|