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Posted Jun 29, 2017, 5:07 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto
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Deep in the Malls of Texas, a Vision of Shopping’s Future
Deep in the Malls of Texas, a Vision of Shopping’s Future
JUNE 20, 2017
By DAVID MONTGOMERY
Read More: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/r...-shopping.html
Quote:
Scott Beck, the chief executive of a local real estate company, remembers riding his bike as a child to Valley View Center, a shopping mall in North Dallas. Cars filled the vast parking lot and anchor stores like Bloomingdale’s, J. C. Penney and Sears teemed with customers. Now, the bustle of shoppers has been replaced by the din of construction — led by Mr. Beck, whose company is clearing the way for a new $3.5 billion development of restaurants, offices and housing.
- Many malls across America have hit tough times, squeezed by changing demographics and competition from e-commerce, discount stores and newer malls with more diverse offerings. Morningstar Credit Ratings recently called the changes in the industry a “seismic shift” and warned of more financial pain ahead. Hundreds of department stores, mall anchors for decades, are expected to shut their doors this year. Several shopping centers in Texas give a peek into how mall owners and developers are responding. In spots where the shopping activity has slowed, the response is clear: Move away from strictly shopping, and expand the mix to include more restaurants and entertainment, or health care and education. Or, in the case of Valley View Center, start over from scratch.
- At Grapevine Mills, a popular shopping destinations in North Texas, the “experiential” formula is a major part of the marketing strategy. Owned by Simon Property Group, one of the country’s biggest retail real estate owners, Grapevine Mills feels almost like an amusement park. In addition to more than 200 retail outlets and restaurants, it has a Sea Life aquarium, a Legoland and a Round One Bowling and Amusement, which includes 24 lanes of bowling, billiards, video games and a karaoke studio. What was once a J.C. Penney Store is now Fieldhouse USA, a 106,000-square-foot indoor sports complex with nine volleyball and nine basketball courts. The mall, about two miles from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, is one of 16 Mills-branded shopping centers nationwide.
- Gregg Goodman, president of the Mills division of Simon Property, said Grapevine Mills drew from a “very wide distance,” including surrounding states, with a strategy focusing heavily on families and intended to encourage repeat visits and longer stays in the mall. On a recent Friday morning, dozens of schoolchildren escorted by teachers and parents trooped through Entrance Five to visit the aquarium and Legoland. “You get the kids here, the parents here, everybody’s happy,” said Stephanie Zafiridis, a preschool teacher from nearby Flower Mound. --- About 200 miles to the south in Austin, Highland Mall is getting a different kind of makeover. It is being reincarnated as the 11th campus of Austin Community College, under a nearly $900 million public-private initiative that has stirred new life into the surrounding North Austin neighborhoods.
- The vision Mr. Beck had for Valley View Center in Dallas is even more ambitious. The project is called Dallas Midtown and is often described as a city within a city. Renderings show clusters of office and residential towers overlooking parks and other green space. It is expected eventually to include boutique shopping, high-end restaurants, two luxury hotels, a branded surgical center, a 10-screen movie theater, an athletic club and a 20-acre park that Mr. Beck described as “our version of Manhattan’s Central Park.” That is a far cry from the Valley View that opened in 1973, riding a wave of retail expansion and grabbing national attention when a shoe store at the mall offered a free eight-ounce steak with any purchase of $5 or more.
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The exterior of a Sears at Valley View Center in Dallas. It was the first and the last store at the mall, which is to be the site of a new $3.5 billion development. Credit Allison V. Smith for The New York Times
The Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine Mills. ‘Dining and entertainment is the new anchor — not Sears, not Macy’s,’ one developer said.
Two sisters, Julie, 8, left, and Jessica Lacy, 9, explored Sea Life Aquarium at Grapevine Mills. Experiences are part of the marketing formula for the destination shopping center, which has more than 200 stores, a Legoland and a bowling alley. Credit Allison V. Smith for The New York Times
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