In the 1980s and 1990s, mall culture was a vital part of teen life. How many millennials remember having their ears pierced at Claire’s, cubic zirconia dazzling on young lobes? If that wasn’t your thing, perhaps you favored the highs and lows of an Auntie Anne’s cinnamon sugar pretzel.
If you’re a little bit older, perhaps you were the one footing the bill for these delights.
But mall culture eventually fell out of fashion, as shoppers did most of their browsing online and their treasures were delivered right to their doorstep. An Amazon Prime membership or Target 360 subscription is the gateway to all of the convenience of getting what you want or need with none of the crowds or fuss.
It’s the remote working of retail.
More Top Picks Wire Landscape
Except that, just like at a workplace, the magic happens in person.
Some of the magic is returning to Chicagoland shopping centers whose futures often looked uncertain in recent years.
The reported $125 million sale of Deer Park Town Center and $95 million purchase of Randhurst Village, coming amid other major suburban retail transactions, suggest investors are seeing new possibilities in a sector that recently looked written off.
Randhurst, an open-air shopping center in northwest suburban Mount Prospect, has undergone several transformations over the decades, and we can remember plenty of years of noticeable empty storefronts. Costco and an AMC Theaters cinema anchor the center; shoppers also frequent Michaels, Old Navy and a rotating array of restaurants that have come and gone over the years.
Deer Park is a more upscale center, and home to one of the area’s best Barnes & Noble bookstores, a welcome destination at a time when it’s tough to find a bookstore, independent or big box alike. Shoppers flock here for retailers such as Evereve and Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Lululemon and Talbots.
Both centers balance shopping with good dining options, and the open-air concept combined with plenty of parking make them realistic destinations for a quick, one-stop shopping trip or an extended day of retail therapy.
While many adults prefer the speed and ease of online shopping, interestingly their kids prefer brick and mortar, especially since it’s difficult to know how something will look or fit without trying it on. In the category of everything old is new again, Gen Z is driving much the revival of the shopping mall. This younger cohort came of age amid COVID lockdowns, social isolation and the omnipresence of smartphones and appears eager to experience more real, in-person connection. And, like their elders once did, they’re finding it with friends at the mall.
Shoppers ages 18 to 24 made 62% of their general merchandise purchases in physical stores last year, compared with 52% among shoppers 25 and older, according to research from Circana’s Consumer Behavior Report. According to PwC, mall foot traffic among shoppers ages 14 to 29 increased 57% year over year.
The malls that survived learned they could offer an experience, something an Amazon delivery can’t replicate.
We’re pleased to see glimmers of life at the suburban mall, not least because this ecosystem lends itself not just to greater investment in retailers but a better connection to the region. When your shopping items come to you, you can be anywhere; but when shoppers go to a retailer, they become more fully part of the community surrounding it.
More in-person shopping and socializing is good for both our society and our economy. All the better that those too young to remember life without smartphones are spearheading this positive back-to-the-future trend.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].