Review of Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio

On any given day, there is no better way to find free entertainment in Columbus, Ohio than at Easton Town Center. Although it is technically a giant mall, its open layout and town feel makes visitors to Columbus, Ohio's Easton Town Center forget about the many stores and restaurants and focus instead on the hundreds of people milling about and the many fountains and outdoor attractions and scenery. In many ways, when my wife and I took our 6-month old daughter last weekend when the weather was so nice, we felt as though we are at an amusement park rather than a shopping center. For those who have never been, Easton Town Center is a giant mall, but most of the stores are free-standing and are aligned next to one another in quaint village-like buildings. There are wide sidewalks, streetlamps, and the other trappings of a small town and many of the streets are brick, giving the visitor to Easton Town Center the impression he or she is walking through the market district of a modern-day Mayberry. This is actually a very refreshing experience, especially since all the other malls in Columbus, Ohio are the typical kind with escalators and an all-indoor layout. In addition, there are a number of stores and restaurants at Easton Town Center that can't be found elsewhere in the city, let alone at the host of other shopping centers in Columbus.

Now, I have never been the type to rave about a shopping place, but I must say, Easton Town Center is almost like a free vacation for the day. If the weather is nice you can take the family out, let them walk around, grab a bite to eat, and of course, check out other families doing the same thing you are. Best of all, it's free if you don't eat there. In fact, going to Easton Town Center was the excitement of our weekend last week and all we spent was $20 on lunch. Aside from the open layout, excellent people-watching opportunities, availability of a wide variety of stores and restaurants not found elsewhere in Columbus, Ohio, Easton Town Center also has a few other attractions. For instance, there a number of different fountains, all of which kids are allowed (and encouraged) to jump around and play in. One of them is something like I've never seen-the water comes out in a perfect jet and "jumps" into a neat little cylinder, which is rather interesting. This makes Easton Town Center also like a little free water park for children and all the youngsters I saw were having the time of their little lives. In terms of children, there is also a section of this little consumer-city at Easton Town Center that's all kids' stores. There is a Discovery Store, Pottery Barn Kids, and other clothing stores for children and pre-teens. I like that they keep everything clumped together at Easton Town Center, actually, rather than spread throughout so you have to walk a mile to get to where the stores you like are.

Okay, now that I've raved about some of the great things about going to Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, there is one very big stern warning I feel compelled to give. Parking at Easton Town Center is a total nightmare. It's an even worse nightmare if you decide to go on a day when the weather is sunny and warm for obvious reasons. Since the Easton Town Center is laid out like a little city, there is parking all around the perimeter in the form of small isolated parking lots with the exception of a few always-packed parking garages (which forget about it, those are always full). For example, since last week we went on a day when it was beautiful, I'm not exaggerating, it took us 35 minutes to find a parking spot. It then took us another 30 minutes to walk to where we wanted to be because we were so far out of the way. In addition to the dreadful parking situation, there are also a lot of lines. I guess this goes without saying, but I honestly couldn't believe the swarm of humanity at like every single possible eating place. We decided on Cosi because the other places had hour-long waiting lists and we were in there waiting for almost another half hour. Again, we have a 6-month old and so by the time we parked and ate, it was time for her feeding and nap so we had to high-tail it back to the car and get going. So, if you have time to kill and don't mind long lines and bad parking situations, then Columbus Ohio has the perfect free getaway for you at Easton Town Center. It's great shopping with tons of interesting new restaurants to try and wonderful for kids and people-watchers too. I love going to Easton Town Center but wish I had a teleportation device and VIP seating privileges at restaurants. That would make it well worth it.