The mall isn’t dead, but it needs a makeover.
The current model of the mall is broken. It no longer serves the purpose it once did: for adults, it’s no longer convenient; for teens, it seems too much like something uncool from their parents’ generation to make them want to hang out there.
Inconvenience
Decades ago, having an Athlete’s Foot a few doors down from a Foot Locker wasn’t a bad thing: it gave people more options. Now, with a culture that feels time-starved and that has been taught that you shouldn’t have to go to more than one place to find what you want, having to go to two stores that are interchangeable from a customer-perspective seems like an unnecessary burden and turns the mall into a poor customer experience.
And, when you multiply that by all the cases in the mall where that’s the same–stores selling seemingly the same things–and the mall becomes a beacon of wasted time and a symbol of inconvenience. It’s like a big box retailer putting half the black dresses on the first floor and the other half on the second floor, at the opposite end of the building.
Uncoolness
With teens increasingly turning away from malls, malls are becoming places that no longer contain positive memories of childhood. This will become an increasing issue if nothing changes: there won’t be any nostalgia to bring them back.
The model of the mall hasn’t changed in a long time: it was dated before most teenagers were born–in two years no teenager will have been born before there was an iPhone. It’s a remnant of their parents’ childhood that isn’t even relevant for most of their parents anymore. The mall has become horribly uncool.
Resurrecting The Mall
To become relevant again, the mall as a whole needs to focus on serving the customer, it has to be destination-worthy, and the mall itself has to be a brand.
The mall can no longer allow retailers in based on whether or not they can pay rent. Instead, the mall needs a curator that selects stores based on whether or not they contribute to the overall mall serving the customer better.
In the new model, having two stores selling the same brands of sneakers or two stores selling similar styles of clothing wouldn’t make the cut: they inconvenience the customer.
And, shopping must be easy: a woman’s shoe store shouldn’t be at the opposite end of the mall as a store selling dresses.
The stores must be selected to make the whole experience convenient for the customer and inspire them.
Food courts passing out samples of Bourbon chicken are outdated. With a culture that’s becoming increasingly obsessed with food, the same care in selecting stores must be applied to selecting food vendors: they must be places people want to eat instead of just being there.
Malls must also provide more than a shopping experience: they must be cool to teenagers. They need to be built to be shared in an online, social world.
The mall should be like a mini-neighborhood where people can get all their shopping done, go to a favorite restaurant, and hang out.
The power of the mall of the future is in its curation. Without curation, the mall is just clutter to today’s consumer. With curation, the mall can regain its identity and again become an essential part of culture.