Fresh Pond Mall

This has got to be the most dangerous shopping center around. Very poor auto control, poor pedestrian safety. Very poor surface, not a good mix of shops just a very poorly designed shopping center. This is one shopping center that could use a major overhaul.

what can I say? Fresh Pond has a great TJ Maxx there. They have one of the bigger «Runway» collections and other great stuff!
You are almost bound to walk out with something here.
Whole Foods is also in the plaza, so you can also pick up some groceries all at the same time!

I don’t think this should really be considered a mall. It’s a small strip mall with only a few stores but it has a lot of the essential shops. The whole foods is great and TJ maxx isn’t bad for a TJ maxx. It has the only petsmart in Cambridge. Trader joes and dunkin donuts are located across the street which is a good convenience. Parking is almost always easy. The annoying thing is the traffic that is almost always high in this neighborhood.

Ok, I used the live around the corner and my creepy ex would take the car all day. So, this strip club of stores was great to walk to. I could find food at Whole Food or Micky Dee’s, kill time in TJ Maxx, and there used to be a CVS across the street. What else do you want in walking distance?

The good olé fashion strip mall. This slab of pavement is quite significant in my life. Its equipped with:
Staples– for my homework supplies, ink and large scale prints.
TJ Max– Spoiling myself with the maxx for the min. and Michael Kors handbags.
Whole Foods– gotta eat wholesome righht?
Mickey D’s: $ 1 iced or hot coffees & egg & cheese biscuits (those are like $ 2).
Pet Smart: woof woof/​meow.
Modell’s AND Olympia Sports: You truly CAN have it all.
Panera Bread: This replaced Newbury Comics because the rent was too high. If they had to choose any establishment, I’m glad its Panera.
Liquor store– No caption needed for this.
AT&T– Can never trust a smart phone.
I would suggest going at off peak hours to avoid the hassle of finding a parking space.

I think this «mall» is great! I am happy the stores are here and there is a place to park to shop at them! I wouldn’t shop for clothes here but I regularly shop at about half the stores (Staples, PetSmart, the theatre, Whole Foods, Newberry Comics, Olympias, and Modell’s, Cambridge Wine and Spirits, Radio Shack). Sure it’s not pretty and not all the retailers are fabulous but its very convenient.

The Whole Foods is perfectly fine, but the parking lot fed by a rotary is my description of hell. It’s one of those situations that make me want to spit in the face of urban planners.

This is one of the sadder strip malls in the area. For a long time it didn’t look as good as it does now– no, I know! Scary!
It had likened itself to the strip malls in western mass to me, almost a decade ago. The only reason I used to stop in was to bank.
I used to go to the movie theater all the time — until I found out it was one of the older ones in the area. It’s a decent group of stores, especially if you have to grab a gift for somebody on the way to dinner, or something — lots of options!

Not a mall in the true sense of the word and certainly not one you go to browse at. It is what it is, and unless you’re going to the movie theater then you’ll probably only come here for a quick errand.
Unfortunately, depending on what time /​day of the week you come here, the parking lot may bring the quickness of your errand (s) to a crawl. The big problems with the mall revolve around the poorly designed parking lot; it badly needs more than one lane to enter/​exit from and more than just one main entrance/​exit. Also at peak hours there is never enough parking. Try coming here on a Saturday, it might take you 10 – 15 minutes to find a spot, and then another 10 – 15 minutes to get out (of the parking lot) between all the traffic in the lot, and the traffic on rt 2A. I realize there is a stop light that mildly monitors traffic but the main entrance/​exit is poorly designed and needs improvement. There is a back entrance behind the stores but it’s small and inconvenient.
Still not quite as bad as the Porter Square lot.

Fresh Pond «Mall» has just enough stores to draw me in, but not enough to make me want to stay very long. The TJ Maxx is good for picking up the perfectly mundane things I need like dress socks or work shoes, but not really much else. It’s not the worst strip mall ever but it is a little sad looking and some of the stores are always empty no matter what time of day it is. The only reason I usually come here is to go Wainwright bank since they lack an abundance of locations, otherwise I’d rather not go here.
Parking is always a head ache here, so I usually park over by Staples and walk over to whatever store I came here for.

I don’t know what everyone is griping about. It has an excellent Whole Foods, full sized Staples, TJ Maxx and Radioshack. Yeah it’s not as nice as Cambridgeside but it’s also a lot cheaper. Movie theater isn’t all that bad. Cheaper tickets and free parking, come on people!

Fresh Pond Mall is actually classified as a mall? Wow, you learn something new every day. To me, it seems like more of a large torture device created by urban architects, aiming to harm as many people as possible with a nasty strip mall, incredibly narrow parking aisles, and a crap selection of fucked up stores that no one wants to visit.
So, that being said, there are some fun places to visit in Fresh Pond «Mall»: Whole Foods, TJ Maxx (bargains!), Petsmart, and the liquor store, but in reverse order. Skip the movie theater… it smells like pee pee.