Donoreo
The end of the traditional mall:
nah it isn’t; It’s the end of the mall with high-priced rent that can’t entice the stores that people want to visit. There are plenty of malls you can go to across the world that are absolutely packed with people because they a) have the stores people want to visit and b) have other things families want to experience (aquariums, movie theatres, ice rinks, clowns, etc..). Make Malls Great Again and people will go to them again.
We have two malls in St. Catharines, Fairview Mall and the Pen Centre. The Fairview Mall is usually a ghost town because the stores inside are nothing that anyone needs. The Pen Centre on the other hand, was just there last night and it was jammed with people and there’s no reason for it, there’s no holiday shopping or events, people were just shopping. And again, packed. I go to the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga (Western New York) and it’s absolutely packed on the weekend, Friday night is insane. Every time I go to Square One it’s packed with people.
While that trash rag insider.com you linked to regularly posts clickbait headlines, I do agree with a few things in that article:
Apple, Lululemon, and other so-called “impact brands” have replaced department stores as major traffic generators. “People will line up around the block for a new iPhone,” says Kehoe. “That’s the draw now.”
I agree with this and it connects to my next point. At the same time, today’s “impact brand” is yesterday’s news.
I don’t agree with this:
The traditional “dumbbell” mall design—department store anchors on each end with small retailers in the middle—emerged in the 1950s. But that model is now being dismantled.
Yea, they’re wrong. Take the Fairview Mall example above, those anchor stores like Winners and Zehrs, and oddly enough Canada Computers are increasing traffic in the other stores. Unless you use the side exit you literally have to exit Winners to leave the mall from Canada Computers. Pen Centre has Walmart on one end, Zehrs at the other end, both are packed, and both increase traffic in the rest of the mall.
The problem with those ‘anchor stores’ referenced in the article has less to do with the model and more to do with the stores. The anchor model works, the malls need to pick better anchors.
I’ve been reading these clickbait stories for years and yet I keep going to malls throughout the world that are jammed. People need to start talking about why some malls are packed full of people and others aren’t.