Malls stress holiday spirit to lure, and keep, patrons
This holiday season, expect to see updated decorations, more live entertainment and cutting-edge technology as malls in Colorado and across the nation work to draw shoppers out of their homes and into their halls.
To remain competitive, malls are embracing their strengths to create a greater sense of place, making the shopping center feel like a town square, where people want to socialize, put their hands on products and ask retailers questions about merchandise. To pull this off, the experience has to be enjoyable. And that’s done by fully embracing the holiday spirit.
“This particular holiday season is going to be a fun one regardless of which shopping center you’re at,” said Pamela Kelly, senior general manager of Park Meadows shopping center in Lone Tree. “My perception — I’ve even seen it on the national news — is that everyone’s putting a little more focus on it this year.”
A survey by Proper Insights & Analytics for the National Retail Federation estimates that consumers will spend an average of $967 per person during this holiday season, which is up 3.4 percent. But for the first time in the NRF’s survey, online was the most popular shopping destination, cited by 59 percent of consumers.
It’s not doomsday for malls, though, as the second
most popular destination was department stores, where 57 percent of respondents said they would shop.
“Each time (customers) have a better experience here, and maybe different than with the internet or doing something over the phone, the better we establish a foothold in our market area,” Kelly said.
It’s not that malls weren’t doing this before but the emphasis has increased, she said. Park Meadows brought out new decorations this year, including 12foot letters spelling “Santa.” FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield partnered with HGTV to create an interactive Santa HQ experience. Denver’s Cherry Creek Shopping Center updated its virtual reality story for Santa’s Flight Academy.
“We better be building on (the holiday experience) every year,” said Heather Drake, senior manager of marketing at FlatIron Crossing. “That’s how we’re going to continue to be successful.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that individual malls often spend $150,000 to $500,000 on holiday decorations.
And although the three malls don’t have a way to calculate how bigger spending on holiday spirit translates to increased foot traffic for their merchants, they all said it was beneficial. “If it doesn’t help traffic and sales, it’s not worth it,” said Nick LeMasters, general manager of Cherry Creek Shopping Center.
Top performing shopping centers do well because they understand that they are a gathering place for people, Drake said. Even top retail stores are catching on, creating an interac- tive experience inside the stores. She pointed out Freebird by Steven, a shoe store from Steve Madden that recently opened at FlatIron Crossing and includes a coffee bar and Instagram wall.
The experience is also a draw to millennials, who stood out in a 2014 OpinionLab study as the only generation to prefer the mall to online shopping. On top of that, the National Retail Federation survey found that young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are the most likely to increase spending during this holiday season.
“I’m growing a bit weary of the narrative of the retail Armageddon, the death of malls,” LeMasters said. “Our mall’s thriving.”
He acknowledged that ecommerce impacts the mall merchants, but said it’s not hurting them. People want the experience of working with another person and interacting with the merchandise, especially when purchasing big-ticket items, he said.
Kelly made a similar point, noting that there have always been multiple platforms to shop, including the Sears catalog. The internet allows new retailers to be entrepreneurs and experiment. Once they find their footing, they’re able to open a physical location She nodded to Untuckit, an online clothing retailer that now has 23 stores, including one at Park Meadows.
Similarly, e-commerce giant Amazon has been opening pop-up stores, including one in Cherry Creek.
“It’s a powerful message to any skeptics out there that think that retail is going by the wayside,” LeMasters said.