Outdoor Communal Retail Spaces Are Getting Smaller

Outdoor communal spaces at retail centers are getting smaller. Open gathering spaces have become a standard at retail centers, but they started as large, flashy spaces with programming. Now, retail owners are opting to create a series of smaller living rooms with amenities like WIFI. Most importantly, these living room-style spaces are well designed and could be a key component to attracting locals, increasing foot traffic and competing with online outlets.

“Everything we hear is about brick and mortar competing with online sales. With this in mind, a key component, a key differentiator from an online commodity driven retail experience, is simply treating the guest experience as the anchor,” Greg Lyon owner, principal and design director at Nadel Architects, tells GlobeSt.com. “In other words the environment that a development provides for its guests and shoppers is the anchor. People will always gravitate towards a well amenitized ‘outdoor living room’ where they can hang out and socialize, and that is what will always set brick and mortar apart from the online experience.”

The new outdoor living rooms are smaller tasteful versions of the large plaza-style communal spaces and walkways. Often there several of these smaller spaces in a center that are meant to serve as a local retreat. “Creating more discreet scaled down and programmed spaces that are geared towards impromptu gatherings and engagement,” says Lyon. “These environments should provide all the new technological amenities—free Wi-Fi, augmented reality that engages with retailer’s onsite. In addition, they should offer the features that have always created great communal gathering places—great water features, fire pits and amenities that increase length of stay and return visitation in different types of weather.”

Owners want a complete experience that people will frequent. With the help of designers, they are outfitting the spaces with shaded structure, seating, communal dining space and aesthetic features, like lighting, water features and fire pits. “Whole community engagement is key,” says Lyon. “Sometimes you should focus as much time and thought into the common areas as the architecture—architecture should sometimes be the backdrop and the environmental design investment.”

For owners on a tight budget, Lyon says that there are options to create communal spaces. “Environmental characteristics are a more cost-effective way to create an immersive environment,” he says. “It’s the way you hedge your center against online shopping, creating an environment to drive visitors. It’s the relationship with the architecture and environmental designed landscape that creates those spaces that people like to hang out in.”

These spaces are becoming a standard for retail spaces, and owners that don’t adopt these characteristics will be left behind. Lyon says that they are seeing demand for these spaces across the retail sector. “Right now regardless of the demographics—financial or otherwise, we are seeing this focus on the communal areas, from typical neighborhood centers to location based entertainment destinations,” he says. “It’s a cross-cultural phenomenon, engaging our multi-generational culture. It’s how people want to hang out.”