Is this the return of the strip mall? Enclosed shopping centers where millions of American teenagers spent their youth are giving way to open air retail, experts say

Classic films of the 1990s, such as Mean Girls and Superbad, depicted American malls as bustling beehives of teenagers’ social lives.

But it’s becoming harder than ever for high school students to enjoy those nostalgic traditions as retailers increasingly turn their backs on indoor shopping options.

Instead, they want to open malls, which experts say are seeing a resurgence across the US.

“The demand for outdoor retail has never been higher,” said Chris Ressa, host of the Retail Retold podcast and chief operating officer of real estate company DLC Management.

He said the transition has been catalyzed by the Covid pandemic and the rise of working from home, which has reduced footfall in the city centre, where indoor shopping centers are more common.

Comic strip centers first emerged in the years after World War II, with the expansion of suburban living and the automobile.

As consumers spend more time at home and less at their workplace, Ressa says shopping centers are a cheap and practical option for retailers who want to get as close to their customers as possible.

“In general, open-air retail is more cost-effective,” he said, noting that there are no common areas that require maintenance and the access makes it easier to move inventory in and out of the store.

That convenience is also a benefit to shoppers who order online and only want to visit the store to pick up their goods, as they can easily drive in and go inside.

“If you only want to go to one store in a closed shopping center, that’s a challenge,” Ressa said. ‘YesYou have to park, get out and walk through the entire mall to get there.”

a study Research from Capital One Shopping found in June that vacancy rates in indoor malls are more than twice as high as in other U.S. retail spaces. It cites projections that of the estimated 1,150 malls in the U.S., only 150 may be left by 2032.

While customers may be excited about the convenience of open-air malls, they aren’t necessarily giving up the social element entirely, according to Ressa.

“I think they get the best of both worlds,” he said.

A famous scene from Mean Girls shows Regina George, played by Rachel McAdams, pulling up in her car and telling Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron, “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

Such trips to the mall can still be viable today, despite the lack of a climate-controlled environment, which conventional wisdom holds increases shoppers’ “dwell time.”

Open-air shopping centers are now offering more and more space for relaxation and socializing, whether that’s in the form of fitness studios like Orangetheory, or restaurants offering outdoor dining.

Green spaces for sitting and gathering are also standard in property developers’ proposals for modern open-air shopping centres.

One of the country’s once vibrant malls that has collapsed is the Westfield in downtown San Francisco. Last year An analysis by the San Francisco Standard revealed that 45 of the 97 retailers operating there in 2020 had since closed.

The exodus from shopping centers often follows the departure of major department stores, which serve as “anchor tenants” and provide a crucial portion of revenue for shopping center operators.

This could also mean that nearby businesses with less attractiveness of their own also suffer.

In November, Macy’s said it would accelerate the opening of “small format” stores outside city centers after successful testing of the new model.

In 2020, the retailer — known for its larger stores in urban malls — began opening smaller “Market by Macy’s” locations, about one-fifth the size, in suburban malls.

Foot Locker is experimenting with a variation on the same strategy. CEO Richard Johnson said during an earnings call in September that it was looking for the right ways to “get out of the malls.”