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SCRANTON — The idea of a Reading Terminal Market marketplace in the Mall at Steamtown is gaining momentum.The concept to create a marketplace in a portion of the mall began nearly two months ago as brothers, Michael and George Boyd, both of Scranton, started a Facebook page to gauge public’s interest to save their city’s retail hub.

Thousands in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties have weighed in on the idea. Last month, the Boyd brothers said the positive responses were “overwhelming.”

Today the Facebook page, Reading Terminal Market at the Mall at Steamtown, has more than 5,800 “Likes” and is getting people talking about how to revive the mall.

“We have a great city and it is very encouraging that so many people at a grassroots level are trying to help and willing to share their ideas,” Scranton Councilman Wayne Evans said in a emailed statement.

Evans said he is in “full support” of the movement but noted the five-member team behind the marketplace effort have “requested that elected officials not be involved in the process at this time.”

“It is clearly an idea with a lot of merit, the Mall at Steamtown needs to be reinvented in it’s entirety and this idea should be fully explored,” Evans said.

Many mall business owners said they could not comment on the mall’s “state of affairs,” but some said they would welcome the change.

“I think it would be a wonderful thing,” said Diane Demko manager of Library Express.

Demko said Library Express has called the mall home for three years and believes the Lackawanna County Library System book store would “fit in” with a marketplace concept.

Demko said things need to change.

“The spaces they are trying to lease are too big for the small business owner to afford,” she said. “They need to re-purpose those spaces to attract businesses.”

Many area shoppers don’t want to see the mall fade-away and become another memory of what once was.

Retired New Jersey police officer John Buhrer of Scranton said he likes the Reading Terminal Market noting it was “crowded all the time.”

Buhrer suggested maybe putting a supermarket in a portion of the mall.

Never having been to the Reading Terminal Market, Heather Shestok of Olyphant said she could not say if that is what should be done or not. But she did say she would like to see “something different” for the mall’s future.

Opening in 1993, the mall was a retail hub linking customers to the Steamtown Historic Site via a walk way extending out from the food court.

The draw of the steam trains had for mall patrons could not compete with the development of the Shoppes at Montage and the long-established Viewmont Mall in Dickson City and Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Township.

Today, the food court, built to accommodate 10 eateries, has two — Roman Delight Pizza and Subway. The mall has 47 store fronts and 23 shuttered ones.

In July 2014, Johnstown-based Zamias Corporation, the building’s mortgage holder, purchased the ailing mall for $37.2 million. The corporation appears to be trying to lease the store space as “For Lease” signs grace some empty store fronts.

Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @ TLNews.

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Eileen Godin is one of our Local News Reporters. Eileen’s a Wyoming Valley native who has worked for The Times Leader as a correspondent for many years. Eileen’s strength is her versatility: She has written for our news, features and business sections. Most recently, Eileen took over our Steals & Deals column, which helps readers get the most value out of the sales promotions in the Sunday edition of The Times Leader. Eileen’s now working for us full-time as a business reporter.