Not too long ago, it would have been nearly unthinkable for a mall or shopping center to remain viable without a familiar anchor tenant. Some retail giants have faced challenges due to the changing retail landscape, forcing them to make strategic decisions and close unprofitable locations. That translates into a healthy amount of square footage for property owners and managers to fill up. For those who remain, the hard facts indicate that anchors are no longer as appealing as they once were.
As the Chicago Tribune reports, some operators are looking to entertainment and recreation options to fill that space or just draw customers in—and it’s working out well. For example, at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago, customers have a wealth of options at their disposal outside of traditional shopping and dining options. Mall visitors can enjoy some fine art while they’re browsing, get some laughs at a comedy show, or stop into the Pac-Man-themed restaurant, which features bowling and arcade games as well.
“We want to give shoppers variety. It rounds out our tenant mix and provides an option for people to do more here than they might have done 10 years ago,” shared General Manager Kurt Webb.
Similar scenarios are playing out in malls and centers all over the nation, but it’s not just a phenomenon that’s trending among individual operators. The corporate level has also witnessed this trend, with mall behemoth General Growth Properties recently describing the redevelopment of underperforming anchors as a mutually beneficial arrangement. Company data suggests that sales at anchor stores are down 10% over the past decade, while smaller stores have seen a nice increase of 33%.
That’s led the company to redevelop some of the anchor spaces it already owns and proactively acquire spaces that are owned by the anchors themselves. One property that has seen the redevelopment of an anchor firsthand is the Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois. At that property, a former Bloomingdale’s was transformed into several smaller stores, while the lower level of the Neiman Marcus was remade into two restaurants.
“It’s part of a bigger strategic decision, where we’re looking at what we want the mall to look like, what it’s missing, and what we need to add to make it a stronger center,” said spokesman Kevin Berry.
