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People Miss Shopping Malls, Especially Gen Z
Shopping malls have been a part of American culture in some capacity for around a century, but they’ve been struggling in recent years.
As people have shifted their shopping habits online, many malls have closed or been converted into other uses, like fulfillment centers, housing complexes, and healthcare facilities. But this hasn’t stopped older generations from reminiscing about the bustling halls and social atmosphere or younger generations from longing for the physical shopping experience that can’t be replicated through virtual storefronts.
According to a recent study completed by IPX, a financial services firm in Chicago, “Nearly 2 in 3 (61%) Americans want to see a revival of traditional shopping malls. In fact, Gen Z and Gen X wish malls would have a revival the most, followed by Millennials and Baby Boomers.”
Gen Z is known as the first “digitally native” generation, and recent studies have shown that they have exhibited the most nostalgia for shopping malls. In IPX’s survey, 66% of Gen Z respondents said they wish traditional shopping malls would have a comeback.
According to IPX, “The top reasons Americans believe malls have closed include the rise of online shopping (78%), economic recession (46%), poor management (35%), opening of competing shopping centers (31%), and the COVID-19 pandemic (25%).”
But not all malls have closed. In fact, 94% of Americans have an open shopping mall within an hour from their homes, though 40% still wish malls would open closer to them.
“While the majority of Americans shop online, it looks like people are ready for a change and want to go back to the time when going to a mall was a frequent tradition with friends and family,” IPX noted in the study.
It seems Gen Zers in particular are clinging to these nostalgic traditions. Even though Gen Z doesn’t know what life is like without the internet, they’re still shopping in person. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers’ survey of over 1,000 16- to 26-year-olds, “Nearly the same share of respondents who shop at brick-and-mortar stores (97%) also shop online (95%).”
Many Gen Zers want to shop in malls for convenience, where they can try clothes on right away rather than waiting for online purchases to ship. It’s a form of instant gratification, which you can’t typically get online.
Others say that the mall is a great place for social activity where they can stay connected with friends and family, especially after the isolation of the pandemic. Some Gen Zers don’t even have anything in mind to buy when they go to the mall — they just want to socialize.
Going to the mall is also an immersive experience for this young generation. Not only do they get to hang out with their friends, but they can also grab some food, find new brands they haven’t heard of before, watch a movie if there’s a theater in the mall, and more. Some malls are already starting to make changes to appeal to younger shoppers, like adding virtual reality arcades, escape rooms, and bowling alleys.
The future of shopping malls may be uncertain, but it seems like there is still a demand for these spaces. With Gen Z at the forefront of the push for revival, malls may have a place in retail for years to come, especially if they are able to adapt to the changing retail landscape and offer a unique shopping experience that people can’t get online.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent rise of online shopping platforms have influenced people’s perceptions and desires regarding shopping malls? Why do you think Gen Z, in particular, expresses a strong affinity for shopping malls despite growing up in a digital era?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Though COVID-19 may have accelerated the rate of malls dying, they have been dying for nearly two decades.
I agree the single biggest reason is online shopping, but why? Convenience, convenience, convenience. Why get in a car and drive an hour, or 20 minutes for that matter, to buy something one can readily get online?
When the first malls appeared 70 years ago, they became a hub for entertainment as well as shopping. On a given Saturday, many would say, “Let’s spend the day at the mall,” with nothing in mind to buy. For teens, like me at the time, it was never about shopping. It was about getting together with friends.
Today, there are many more alternatives to people’s leisure time. I don’t really understand the Zoomer’s nostalgia. They have never really experienced the Golden Age of malls when it was part of the people’s lifestyle.
Let’s also consider the shrinking American middle class. In the ’60s, over 60% of the U.S. population was considered Middle Class. Today is just under 50%.
Who doesn’t want to see a revival shopping malls? If you ask me, I’d throw a revival of the beautiful, traditional department stores some of us remember in there, too.
Still, there are plenty of malls to shop in, and many are doing a great job to create an immersive experience on-site to entertain visitors in addition to shopping.
Some of the wording in this study is off: “While the majority of Americans shop online…” Yes, we do, but not exclusively. We also enjoy shopping at brick and mortar stores because shopping is and will always be a social experience.
Who doesn’t want a Main Street Revival?
ALWAYS.
Let’s face it: Shoppers are nostalgic for a kind of retail format that barely exists today. A vibrant regional mall is still at the mercy of strong anchors, and the decline of Sears, Penney and most midtier department stores has sped the decline of the mall. Repurposing former anchors as health clubs, clinics, etc. leaves the traditional mall feeling like a glorified power center.
The factual measurement of this is “click vs walk” The clicks have it.
The decline in seeing movies in theaters, thereby causing many theaters to close has played a huge part in mall culture diminishing as well. I also think that while many malls may still exist, many of the big draw retailers have pulled out of them. So, if malls rebuilt their presence with the retailers and experiences consumers want, there would be much less nostalgia for them.
Movie theaters? You are obviously much younger than I. During the Golden Age of Malls, there was nary a movie theater.
I’ve just googled “The Golden Age of Malls,” and it appears unanimous that they began gaining popularity in the 80s, but peaked in the late 90s/early 2000s. There were indeed movie theaters in malls in the late 90s/early 2000s drawing crowds/turning malls into destinations because of that. I may be younger than you, but I was frequenting malls during their golden age 🙂
I’m old and I went to movies at malls in the 90’s and 2000’s. In fact, Aventura Mall has an AMC, and it’s the only reason I ever go to the otherwise claustrophobic place.
You’re not old, Paula, but I appreciate you supporting my point that our age has nothing to do with when the Golden Age of Malls took place, and that there were indeed movie theaters in malls during said Golden Age
I have never been convinced that the internet killed the American mall, and the results of this survey seem to validate that opinion (as much as survey data can be relied upon, anyway).
Irrelevance killed the American mall far more than the internet, in my opinion. Assortments, experiences and even food selections failed to keep pace with evolving consumer preferences. The mall failed to differentiate from online in a meaningful way, and the social options weren’t compelling. So yes, people decided that shopping online was in fact more convenient than driving to uninspiring malls.
The new wave of modern malls, however seem to have a much better understanding of how to add meaningful value above and beyond simply the opportunity to try on assortments that are readily available online and easily bought in multiple sizes with no penalties for returns.
As with so many things, the ability to deliver differentiated experiences is what will determine whether malls make a comeback.
Agreed, Dave! One thing I started noticing was the unfortunate lack of innovation and growth with current trends. Signage would break or become faded/aged and would go unreplaced; plants in common spaces started dying and were replaced with plastic of some sort; playground equipment wasn’t kept up. So many blunders.
Then came the replacements… the “filler stores,” if you will. Don’t get me wrong… I’m a HUGE advocate for shopping small and shopping local, but let’s be real: some businesses do NOT belong in malls.
As malls started drying up and their “heydays” dwindled, the mall in Fayetteville, AR, did like many of its counterparts; they slashed rental rates to where tiny businesses who had no real demand started popping in for a month or two before disappearing quicker than they appeared. There was no curation of shops, no rhyme or reason to who was allowed or not. More cheap kiosks popped up, only quickly to close and leave a mess behind. Tell me… have you ever seen a shopping mall with a moped sales and rental shop in it? How about a moped sales and rental shop that also had random parts and boxes laying around from where they got bored and tried repairing the units directly on the showroom floor?
I agree; I don’t think the internet killed it. I think lack of true care did. I think it’s great to see Gen Z caring enough to want them back; there’s nothing quite like a fun-filled Friday night at the mall with friends.
While every consumer knows multiple options and channels to buy products online, malls provide benefits above and beyond.
Many Gen Zs are still in their teen years and getting out there and experiencing a mall with their friends and spending social time together is appealing.
Additionally, malls are still in many ways a one-stop shop where you can grab a bite with a friend, go to the movies, and also pick up a new t-shirt in a few hours. The combination of fun experiences, convenience, and social benefits that great malls provide is appealing to any age consumer.
More than ever I want to express retail as “Explore + Experiment + Execution = Experience³. It’s not a simple sum of the parts. It’s Exponential.” Customers want to Explore + Experiment. Retailers need to Execute to that expectation. That immersion is what generates a great Experience. That immersion happens deeply and thoroughly in physical retail. The learning and comfort developed through physical retail enables a high level of confidence in enjoying the convenience of ecommerce. The lack of learning and comfort in the absence of shopping physical retail gives us crazy return rates in ecommerce. Removing the word “free” from shipping and returns will help restore a different balance to the whole equation.
I live in a market that has 2 malls that are thriving and a couple which have closed or will be closing. The big difference between those is that the ones that are succeeding continued to seek out good restaurants and other entertainment options. Mall operators need to make the mall itself a destination, even more so than any specific retailer. Yes, you need solid and high-demand retailers, but if you build a mall with multiple stops to satisfy shoppers, eaters and those just wanting a place to escape the weather, the customers will come.
“Nostalgia is delicate but potent” is a quote from Don Draper in Mad Men. In the quote, He also says that nostalgia is a twinge in your heart that’s far more powerful than memory alone. Those who grew up in the glory days of shopping malls, which spanned the 1960s to arguably the 1990s, long for the re-emergence of a shopping mall model, where you could spend the day with your friends and family and find everything you need.
As we know, successful shopping malls were and continue to be very dependent on the anchor department stores to attract traffic into the main part of the malls. Additionally, movie theaters have reduced their presence in shopping malls as well.
Even in the more modern shopping malls produced by Westfield, Brookfield, and Simon, where is a good blend of retailers, something is just off. In a world where you have far more options digitally, on main streets, and in strip malls, we have to have a reason to go to a mall vs the other options.
To quote Harry Styles, in a world that has seemingly moved on from the attraction of shopping malls, “You know it’s not the same as it was.”
There is a lazy narrative that all malls are dying. It is simply not the case. The picture is mixed. Some malls are struggling, for sure. Others are thriving with good occupancy, strong traffic, and a nice tenant mix. These include newer outdoor, mixed-use centers as well as some of the regional malls that have been invested in. Gen Z is a part of the crowd frequenting these malls. What always strikes me, especially over the holiday period and Black Friday, is how many younger Gen Z shoppers there are in malls. It’s obvious as to why: people like a place to socialize, to meet and to engage. We do not all want to stay home in front of screens.
This is me hitting the “Like” button.
Yeah, I miss those!
Ditto
Actually, malls were dying because operators got lazy and stopped providing a sticky experience. And that was already changing before the pandemic. It will start again.
There are places where malls are the center of activities. The term “mall rat” isn’t that old, and the days when doing mall concerts could make “stars” wasn’t forever ago.
They’ll make a comeback – kids are social animals – but the mall operators will have to open their wallets and make them interesting. No one likes a sea of sameness
I remember the term “Mall Rat” in the 80’s when I was in middle school.
I saw Tiffany at the mall and thought that was big time.
Anyway, Paula is right- malls will have to re-invent the experience in order to stay relevant.
I see some mall incorporating gyms/health clubs, and grocery stores (I remember these were a big deal) and more to differentiate themselves from the others.
Fun fact: Tonya Harding used to practice at a rink in a local mall. These are the ways to make malls sticky (along with Tiffany and Debbie Gibson!).
The nostalgia is not about shopping but about energy, excitement, and experience. We are social creatures and the best part of malls was connecting with friends, family and spending time together. Just having something to casually do. Some malls are still great while other are dead, but if they can become a mixed used destination, including living/health care and overall community for some of them we can reconnect people and make use of the space.
It seems weird to me to talk about nostalgia and Gen Z – it’s borrowed nostalgia, because while many are now in their 20s, it’s not like they had malls as a huge part of their life before the pandemic. It makes me wonder how much series like Stranger Things play a role in shaping what they expect malls to be like, and why they would want to go there. Hopefully mall operators are paying attention, to better deliver on those expectations!
The younger side of Gen Z is a perfect group of customers to nurture for future business. While a mall may be more important for their social life, it is also part of their consumer experience. As they make more money and have a habit of going to malls, they will start spending more in the mall.
First of all, COVID obviously didn’t help malls, but it also didn’t drive a stake in their hearts. Malls were on the ropes already because the business model – strong anchor department stores as the cake and smaller brand outposts as icing, with food, etc. acting as sprinkles on top of the icing – was already failing as broad multi-department stores lost their appeal. Also household sizes have been decreased, there has been a slow drift away from suburbs back into cities, and the idea of home “furnishing”, i.e., technology, changed faster than the anchor stores.
Next, as to this new audience that has discovered that, “Not only do they get to hang out with their friends, but they can also grab some food, find new brands they haven’t heard of before, watch a movie if there’s a theater in the mall, and more,” um … er … isn’t that what attracted other generations to malls. So, I need more data before I believe this is a “Gen Z” thing and not just an “adolescent” thing.
All this leads me to believe that the malls that I see doing well are less anchor-dependent than those that are struggling. In fact the model seems to have been stood on its head with smaller retailers building traffic for the anchors.
Well said. It’s about the smaller specialty stores that have some level of differentiation going on. Some motivation to shop and buy other than a sale or discount of some kind. Stores that are executing both product and presentation. Oh…and salespeople. Salespeople versus cashiers.
And they want soda fountains and streetcars and …. and soon will yearn for gas stations.
The trouble with all of these wish lists, of course, is that people didn’t “want” these things enough to keep them around. But maybe there’s still hope: unlike the first two items, malls – for the most part – are still around; so if Gen Z wants to keep them they need to skedaddle down and shop there (assuming of course the mall doesn’t have an age limit that precludes their entry)
There is another angle beyond the logic of shopping in person. Gen Z’ers are rediscovering the cultural and generational connection of the mall experience from their Gen X parents, who as teenagers spent days each week hanging out at or working at malls in the 1980’s – 1990’s. Vivid stories of this are being passed down to Gen Z, with most recent evidence in the 80’s based drama series Stranger Things, beloved by Gen Z’ers and rooted in 80’s culture and experiences at shopping malls. Cultural rediscovery play a role in shifts too.
I agree! As a millennial, I remember the excitement of spending our Saturdays at the mall when we were young. I just went to the mall over the weekend for the first time in a while. As a working mom, I did find it to be a frustrating experience. The long lines and feeling that this could have been way easier online and return what didn’t work was definitely going through my head. I’d love to see the revitalization of malls with more emphasis on the seamless, customer experience.
The loss of community is more than a nostalgic tradition. The opportunity is to recreate these connecting spaces in a way that is profitable and meets the new experiential needs of Gen Z.
The rent structure of shopping malls is the root cause of their current struggle. The desire for long term lease commitments and high rents meant only large national chains could afford mall space, resulting in the same flat experience in nearly every mall in America. Malls need to rethink their rent models to allow a wider range of stores personalized to each community, and curate those stores better so you have a more dynamic product mix. They also need to offer an online channel so shoppers can start their mall visit by browsing online, just like every other shopper journey today.
The previous generations, Gen X or Baby Boomers, have always valued family and believed in providing them with a good life. When people moved to the suburbs for a more quiet life, shopping became more of a family event, in this case, traveling to a downtown mall. Living in isolation in the suburbs has weakened the social thread that binds people together, and this is what we’ve handed on to Generation Z: a broken society. We have raised Generation Z in an individualistic society that does not work at the community level. As a result, the younger generation recognizes the disconnect and strives to find real relationships.
In regards to Gen Z, forget malls; do they want to go to a store or do they prefer online shopping to buy anything they want? Gen Z is not limited to one channel; they will go anywhere they want, whenever they want. If they have the company of their peers, they will go to a mall, but if they want convenience, they will buy online.
In my opinion, Gen Z would like to shop at downtown stores where there is a sense of community, similar to how many Americans are flocking to downtown where they can buy everything they need right below their flats. I believe that retailers will have much better investment opportunities in downtown stores as opposed to malls.