4 Ways to Save Your Old Shopping Center
Traditional shopping centers are on the endangered species list, with most teetering on the verge of obsolescence. But, there are things owners can do to save their out-of-date shopping centers. Cushman & Wakefield retail investment sales director Chris Harden tells us four ways to keep shoppers coming back.
Chris (left, with colleague Kris Von Hohn and their wives and children) tells us older shopping centers are getting backfilled with nontraditional retail uses or just being torn down and redeveloped. One of the causes of this major disruption in the retail industry is the Internet/technology and demographic shifts. Consumers today are demanding something different than what the old retail model provided. So what are consumers today demanding? They still want the same goods and services, but they want to acquire and consume them differently, he says. Owners need to make their shopping centers experientially relevant. Here’s how to do that.
1. Creating a Happy Place
A positive consumer experience can lead to increased traffic and higher sales, allowing the shopping center owner to raise rents and maintain a high occupancy well into the future, Chris tells us. Additionally, with the Internet taking a more active role in the retailer growth model, brick-and-mortar stores must compete with easy access to goods and services. That may mean good visibility of storefronts and signage; easy entry and exit, and depending on the type of tenants, positions along these thoroughfares are also an important factor. Coffee merchants should be on the “going-to-work” side of the road. Conversely, a grocer will likely do better at a busy intersection if located on the “going-home” side of the road.
2. Quality Service
Superior product knowledge and short wait times are also paramount to a convenient experience. With so much information available online today, it is imperative that brick-and-mortar retailers staff their stores with friendly, knowledgeable sales people, Chris says. These frontline sales people not only help the consumer navigate the product market, but also assure shoppers that they’re buying the right product for their needs at the best available price.
3. Entertainment
Make the experience entertaining: dining, movies, live music and sports like Top Golf can’t be replicated online (outside of movies). Look at the new theaters built in the last five years; most are dinner/movie concepts such as Alamo Drafthouse and Studio Movie Grill. There are also large-format theaters like Cinemark and AMC with IMAX and 3D stadiums. Restaurants are driving many new projects because dining is an opportunity for social interaction and people-watching, Chris says. Restaurants provide shopping centers expanded shopping hours, attracting consumers into the night. If done right, they can also activate the streetscape through patios and other outdoor seating options, providing more shopper interaction with surrounding retailers.
4. Lifestyle
The most profound experience consideration is lifestyle or consumer ethos, Chris says. This is a big connection between the shopping center owner, retailers and consumers. Urban, walkable, livable, socially connected are all buzzwords for the type of shopping centers that create meaning in consumers' lives, he tells us. In many cases, it’s not a shopping center but a shopping district such as the Bishop Arts District, the Design District, Uptown, Oaklawn and Lakewood in Dallas, and in Fort Worth, there’s Sundance Square, Fort Worth Southside, West 7th and the Cultural District. These areas attract local operators and artisans, celebrity chefs, gourmet grocers and creative class professionals. Some national retailers forging connections with consumers are Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Anthropologie, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Lifetime Fitness, Barnes & Noble and Starbuck’s.
