2000s
At the beginning of the decade, a major remodeling of the central courtyard took place. The narrow, linear bridge between the north and south sides of the courtyard was demolished, along with its pair of escalators. In its place, a wide diagonal bridge was built, with two pairs of escalators. As part of the project, a customer service desk was built near the north-side escalator; the mall had no such desk prior to this time.
Montgomery Ward was the latest anchor to fall, closing as the chain fell to bankruptcy in 2001. After a short stint as Magellan's Furniture, the anchor was demolished for a lifestyle center section known as "The Shops on Butterfield". This new section, anchored by HomeGoods, Marshalls, and Lucky Strike Lanes (an upscale bowling alley), opened in 2007. At the same time, the "Convenience Center" was renamed "The Shops at Yorktown"; despite the popularity of the Carson Pirie Scott furniture gallery, it has continued to exhibit a high rate of vacancies.
Also in 2007, a 500 bed Westin hotel was opened on the periphery, next to the Target Greatland. This hotel includes a conference center and two restaurants run by the Harry Caray restaurant empire. The Montgomery Ward auto center was torn down in favor of a Claim Jumper restaurant, which joined Rock Bottom Brewery, Buca di Beppo, and The Capital Grille along the property's perimeter.
In late 2008, Steve & Barry's closed (as did all of its other stores). Since 2008 Yorktown Shopping Center has added A'gaci, Charming Charlie, Tom & Eddie's, Fuzziwigs Candy Factory, MagicQuest (closed early 2012), Best Buy Mobile, and Baskin-Robbins. Currently there are only a few empty locations.
Read more about this topic: Yorktown Center