Being able to go to the bank, cut your hair, pick up your shoes - these are just some of the services you can find at a shopping center. If you asked five people to describe a mall, you would most likely end up with at least two or three very different answers. A mall can be described as a shopping center with a grocery store, a covered shopping destination with several large major stores, or even a small strip of five or six stores. The most common type of shopping center is the neighborhood center, which typically has one anchor warehouse and ranges from 30,000 to 150,000 square feet.
It is named after its small, three-mile “neighborhoods centered” primary shopping area. Retailers in neighborhood centers primarily offer daily needs such as food, convenience items, personal services, snacks, pharmaceuticals, and other health-related items. The most common element of the neighborhood center is a grocery store - according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, more than 50% of neighborhood centers are anchored in a grocery store. A third of neighborhood centers have pharmacy presenters.
Community centers are larger versions of neighborhood centers that are characterized by a wider range of retail stores. They typically offer 100,000 to 300,000 square feet of retail space with two main stores and draw customers from a main shopping area of three to six miles. Of the eight types of retail malls, community centers come in most shapes and sizes. Community centers include grocery stores, super pharmacies, discount department stores and, in certain markets, home improvement stores.
Many community centers with discount department stores are also known as discount centers. Regency Centers is one of the largest community center managers in the United States. In most parts of the country, the local mall is the definition of regional center in textbooks. These properties are enclosed shopping malls, typically offering between 400,000 and 800,000 square feet of retail space and have at least two anchors.
They attract customers from a main shopping area of five to 15 miles. In most cases, a large percentage of the general merchandise available in regional centers is clothing. The traditional attraction of regional centers is the anchor stores. Simon Property Group is the largest owner and operator of regional centers in the United States. Due to the rise of e-commerce, many regional centers are considered to be problematic, unhealthy or dying malls - these centers have vacancy rates above 10% and at least one or more main stores are empty. One of the big challenges facing the retail property management industry is how these properties will be reused in the future.
The largest type of shopping mall are superregional centers - not surprisingly, many of the largest malls in the United States are super-regional hubs. That's because superregional centers typically have three or more anchors and at least 800,000 square feet of retail space. They also rely on larger population bases, drawing visitors within a five to 25 mile radius of the property. The key distinction between superregional centers and regional centers is size and commercial area - superregional centers are larger, have more main stores and are based on a larger primary retail area. The Mall of America in Bloomington Minnesota and American Dream in East Rutherford New Jersey are the two largest superregional centers in the country - both are owned by the Triple Five Group. Fashion centers, similar to retail centers, are defined by retailers of haute couture and luxury brands.
These centers have retail stores of world-renowned fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton Gucci Hermès Chanel and Burberry. They typically offer 80,000 to 250,000 square feet of retail space and attract customers from a main shopping area of five to 15 miles. The anchor stores of fashion centers are usually luxury department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman or Saks. The defining characteristic of energy centers are their anchor stores - for a mall to be considered an energy center at least 75 to 90% of the available retail space must be dedicated to main stores. They range in size from 250,000 to 600,000 square feet and attract customers from a main shopping area of five to 10 miles - energy centers can be comprised entirely of an anchor space or include some small retail storefronts. Energy centers are usually home improvement stores discount department stores or warehouse clubs - often called category killers energy center retailers offer a wide range of products and maintain pricing power over smaller local retailers. When Home Depot opens its doors at a local electrical center it often bankrupts a local hardware store - Kimco Realty is one of the largest energy center property management companies in the United States. Often remodeled in urban environments inside old buildings these malls are characterized by a unifying theme - this theme can be applied both to the architectural style of the building and to the retail offering of the property. Theme centers do not have main stores and are generally 80 000 to 250 000 square feet in size - in addition to retail stores most theme centers include several restaurants and entertainment venues. Unlike other types of shopping malls theme centers do not have a primary shopping area - this is because their main purpose is to attract tourists to the property. Two well-known theme centers are Pier 39 in San Francisco California and Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston MA. The last type of mall is an outlet center - retail centers generally have anchored warehouses and vary widely in size from 50 000 to 400 000 square feet. Outlet centers are uniquely defined by their tenants who are always manufacturers' outlet stores - this is a mandatory requirement for a property to be considered an outlet center. These stores sell exclusively products from a single manufacturer often at discounted prices - thanks to discounts on well-known brands outlet centers are popular destinations for shoppers looking for bargains.
