Since its opening in 1970, the Dayton Mall has been a shopping shortage for residents of Dayton, Ohio, how many, how many, with increasing open positions, which were tightened by closing two anchors, Sears and Bon Ton in 2018.
As a result, the shopping center was received where it stays. But the 162,000 square meter former Sears area was sold to a local church, Crossroads, which has transformed 90,000 square meters of the former shop into a house of adoration and the community center with a traditional internal entrance to the rest of the shopping center.
“Nothing says dying shopping center as if a church is moving in,” said Rebecca Maguire, marketing manager of the Dayton Mall. “But CrossRoads has an enormous supporter and they are so community that a shopping center in the world would be lucky enough to have such a partner.”
It is fair to ask whether a fighting shopping center is the right place for a church, and Matt Castleman, the pastor of the Crossroads Church in Dayton, said that the religious organization has its own reservations.
“People asked, chained you to a shopping center?” said Castleman.
The church, part of a network based in Cincinnati with eight church, celebrated its first services on this year's Easter Sunday and has moved thousands into the once Moribund Mall. The church also decided to open the complex seven days a week when the shopping center is open.
“We have 400 to 500 people a week who have no belonging to the church,” said Castleman. Teenager fan The shopping center for services to eat on the food court and show with bags from shops such as Claire's and again in the church. Dicks sporting goodsSaid Castleman.
Of course, Claire's bankruptcy registration is another sign of how the difficult times for long -term shopping centers do not disappear. But to fill old anchors with new niche companies or goals, as in the case of the Dayton Mall with his new church tenant, is exactly the type of “cross shopping” mall rental company that is sought to the landlords.
While a church is the unconventional redemption of the Dayton Mall, other shopping centers are also found outside the box-free in order to fill large empty rooms.
The case of the American shopping center has been written down for a long time and is not exaggerated. Symphused shopping centers with anchor shops, a lively food court and a stable trend fashion dealer that stood between the suburb after the Second World War have been the heart after the Second World War for generations. However, the change in demography, the shift in shopping habits and the rise of Amazon and e-commerce contributed to the decline of shopping centers.
However, the latest data and managers in the industry indicate that the attached shopping center could be positioned for a rebirth.
The trend of repeating empty anchoring, which in some cases began a decade ago, said Stephen Lebovitz, CEO of CBL Properties, one of the largest shopping centers in the United States with more than 155,000,000 square meters of large mall space.
“We have built up a rebound and a lot of positive dynamics. These projects so as not to meet the anchors overnight,” said Lebovitz. And even if the old anchors have been filled relatively quickly, it can take some time to break through customers.
“It took several years to recover anchor closings in 2017-2018,” said Lebovitz, referring to a wave of anchors that were closed this year. In the past ten years, traditional anchors have been like Macy'sJcpenney and Sears Shutter.
The divided shopping center and “cross -stroll”
Lebovitz said the key to success was to divide formerly extensive anchor storage into niche players, all of whom involve their cross-shopping groups. There are former Sears locations in the CBL portfolio that generated 7 to 8 million US dollars a year. According to Lebovitz, newly filled, divided, merged five to six times the amount. A large number of different companies fill these emptiness, from restaurants such as the Cheesecake factory to large retailers such as Dick's Sporting Goods, entertainment options such as Dave & Buster or Hotels.
Lebovitz said that the developers of shopping centers also try to add more experimental categories such as games, bowling and laser tag.
Other shopping centers go one step further and convert old shops into things such as apartments or large food dishes.
Brookfield Properties, another great landlord of Mall, records a similar success from the same game book. Brookfield's shopping center portfolio is more high and isolates it from some turbulence from retail, but still had to surround some anchors (or “re -program” the box in the industry parlance).
“Gen Z loves the shopping center; they love the experience of the shopping center and are personally with each other in shopping centers,” said Kirsten Lee, Executive Vice President of Luxury Leasing at Brookfield Properties. Lee refers to the Koviden as a turning point when people searched for old comfort like the shopping center.
“People see the shopping center as a common room,” said Lee. In order to lean on it, Brookfields Tyson's Galleria, for example, added a bowling entertainment complex and a yoga studio to the mix.
This contributed to increasing the amount of crossover purchases, said Lee, that customers who could go on the streets for some games of the Bowling could search for a new shirt.
The latest data from Placer.ai show that the positive shopping center -Vibes of owners are more than just cheerleaders with companies, with a concrete increase in traditional enclosed mall traffic. RJ Hottovy, head of analysis research at Placer.ai, agrees with the owners of the shopping centers that the changes to anchors have finally been received in recent years.
“It takes time,” said Hottovy, adding that open-air lifestyle centers were successfully used with mixed usage strategies. “Now we start to see that closed shopping centers do it.”
Hottovy attributes a large part of the success of non-traditional anchor selection, with shopping centers involving a large number of tenants in their mix. For the holiday season 2024, the shopping centers were in front of the retailers, said Hottovy. For other reasons, people went to shopping centers, including seasonal events, restaurants and cinemas.
In some cases, according to Hottovy, the shopping centers experience a “barnes & noble” effect, even if it is not a formal anchor. In the Coronado Center Mall in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Barnes & Noble made 7.9% of visits to the shopping center in 2024 and exceeded both Macy and Jcpenney. Barnes & Noble has around 660 shops in the USA, 107 of which are in traditional closed shopping centers.
“Shopping centers are absolutely places where we want to be part,” said Jason Stryker, head of real estate and development of Barnes & Noble, which was praised for his turn. The company is considering adding 10 other locations for closed shopping centers this year, and actively researches about a dozen for always 21 locations for Forever 21, which are often extensive and sometimes two floors high, which is good for a barnes & noble layout, said Stryker.
According to Stryker, the bookseller strives for a range of 18,000 to 22,000 square meters so that an old anchor is often built up among the niche dealers.
“We want to be together in the shops where people cross,” said Stryker, adding that Barnes & Noble can be particularly attractive for shopping centers because “we really don't compete with another retailer there”.
Developers refer to something immaterial that grasp shopping centers and nostalgia, and they can deal with something.
“Most genes X and Millennials have spent their youth years to remember memories in shopping centers-to go to the food court with their friends, to smell all lotions or perfumes in a shop or just chat,” said Dr. Vassilia Binenszok, a licensed mental health consultant in Florida, psychotherapy, psychotherapy practice, psychotherapy for groups, psychotherapy. “For many people, it can feel more like themselves when they go to the shopping center when it causes memories of these younger days,” said Binenszok.
In the meantime, the coffee and the free WiFi in the Crossroads Church in the Dayton Mall will continue to flow, while other shopping centers are looking for unconventional anchor tenants.
“We want life, business, money and energy to get back to the shopping center,” said Castleman.