Mall foot traffic is rebounding, per Placer.ai

People have been saying for years that malls are dying, but a few fresh strategies might be giving them a new lease on life.

Of course, mall traffic has fluctuated since 2020, and pandemic waves, inflation, and soaring gas prices haven’t helped. But visits are on the rebound, per a recent Placer.ai white paper.

• Visits were down just 5% year over three years (YO3) in February across all mall segments (indoor, outlet, and open-air), and only 1.8% in April for indoor and 4.8% for open-air malls.
• Traffic dropped in May and June, but the visit gaps shrunk again in July, with indoor down just 3.5% and open-air down 2.7% YO3.
• Visit lengths are also up two minutes from 2020 levels (but are still down eight minutes since 2019).

Over the past year, malls have been establishing “a more diverse and fresh tenant mix,” and rethinking what stores belong in these shopping centers, Ethan Chernofsky, VP of Marketing at Placer.ai, told Retail Brew in an email.

“A shift to a more diverse and fresh tenant mix and a wider focus on what belongs in a mall is helping to reestablish the role of top-tier malls,” he said.

Out with the old: One way to reel in customers? Revamping an old Sears, apparently. Last August, Pennsylvania’s York Galleria Mall turned a former Sears into a casino, boosting foot traffic by 31.4% YO3—and it’s sustained those visits over the past year, per Placer.ai.

• New Jersey’s Ocean County Mall, too, repurposed a closed Sears to an exterior lifestyle center featuring popular chains like Ulta and HomeSense. Dwell time rose by three minutes and attracted a younger audience, causing the median visitor age to drop ~three years.

Mall it over: There are other winning strategies, too: Real estate firm Centennial’s omnichannel Shop Now! platform gave rise to a 5.1% boost in loyal visits from February to June 2022 at California’s MainPlace Mall. Plus, California’s Westfield Oakridge shopping center added Asian grocery store 99 Ranch Market in March, and YO3 visits are still up 10.1% in July.

“Retailers gain from the wider experience created within the mall, but stand to benefit even more as a greater emphasis is placed on entertainment, experiences, and food and beverage,” Chernofsky said.—EC