Retail Exhibits Resiliency to Bounce Back

Mall transformations include Bespoke on the fourth floor near Bloomingdale’s in the Westfield Center.

SAN FRANCISCO—The growth prospects for US malls are brighter than what conventional wisdom suggests about retail’s competing forces including the proliferation of e-commerce, according to global alternative investment manager QIC. Successful malls will be those that transform beyond shopping into social town centers, places where people go to eat, meet friends, be entertained, relax or experience an array of other services, according to the firm’s Red Paper, “Rhetoric versus reality: Quantifying the long-term outlook for U.S. mall sales”.

This requires a shift in tenant mix toward services, including dining, hotels, entertainment, medical centers, fitness and other personal services to boost sales and produce a more resilient mall. The tenant mix of a genuine town center can more than double the sales growth of a mall that is currently operating with today’s typical tenant mix.