Maurice C.
Yelp
Sort of your average, functional, somewhat upscale mall. It's clean and it works. I've been coming here since the early 90s and have noticed all of the changes and how it's been updated.
Pretty much all of the original/big anchors and featured attractions have left. When I first started coming to the mall, the Sports Museum of New England was a pretty big attraction. Now it's in the TD Garden.
Lechmere was the first to go back in 1997. Filene's in 2006. Sears in 2018 and Macy's in 2020. Best Buy came in 1998 and is the last real anchor. TJ Maxx replaced Borders in 2012 and is a big space next to Best Buy and technically counts as an anchor, although it's only one floor sort of tucked away in the corner.
There's a huge Cheesecake Factory which is the "anchor" of the restaurant options. A smaller, but still sizeable World of Beer is across from it. As far as the smaller food and drink options goes, Gong Cha, the Taiwanese bubble tea chain, is the best of the bunch.
There's a food court with some chains such as Chipotle, Burger King, Taco Bell, Dunkin' Donuts and Panda Express as well as other food options including different Asian food options, cheesesteaks and Mediterranean. There was a Starbucks outside of the food court close to the Cheesecake Factory but it appears to no longer be open.
As far as electronics goes, you've got the Apple Store, the aforementioned Best Buy, GameStop, T-Mobile and AT&T.
For clothing, you've got Guess, H&M, Old Navy, American Eagle, Superdry, Vans and Laced. For shoes, you've got Foot Locker, Skechers, Aldo and Olympia Sports.
As far as transportation goes, it's easiest to access from the Green Line of the MBTA and the Route 69 bus. Currently, you have to take the Green Line to North Station and then a free shuttle bus takes you from there to Lechmere Station and then there's a short walk where you can just follow everyone else if you don't know where the mall is.
The 69 bus route goes between Harvard Square and Lechmere Station. There used to be a free shuttle bus that went from the Kendall Square Red Line station directly to the mall, but it is no longer in operation.
The mall has a smaller size and scope since the entire 3rd floor is no longer accessible. There were some plans that were approved for office space and residential units that were approved before COVID-19, but they seem to have indefinitely been put on hold and perhaps may not come to fruition, at least not for quite some time.