Food and beverage brands are Top 5 traffic builders at many malls.
Macy’s and JCPenney still play a key role in drawing customers to malls, but empty anchor implants like entertainment brands, fitness centers, and restaurants are increasingly building new traffic across longer ranges of hours, declares Placer.ai’s latest Mall Report.
One key participant in this trending phenomenon is a brand that most retail experts thought had run its course: Barnes & Noble. In recent years, the land’s leading bookseller has reinvented itself in smaller stores (15,000 sq. ft. versus 25,000 sq. ft.) redesigned to be “hangouts” for local customers with better lighting, more open layouts, and opportunities for social interaction.