The consensus among economists and analysts of all kinds is that things have changed…forever. Although we didn’t sink nearly as far, this economic period will produce a generation defined by it just like our depression-era grandparents. When we adamantly preach to our children about the importance of paying off credit cards and taking on only debt that you can handle, they’ll whisper to each other, “They lived through the Recession.”
But the fact is things have changed. People will shop differently going forward and retail is on the cusp of what Allison Arieff aptly calls “Retail Renaissance.” In her NYTimes article “Rethinking the Mall,” Arieff points out that the future of the American mall must be dealt with now. Just last month the second largest mall-operator in the country filed for bankruptcy. Vacancies and severely reduced shopper traffic are wreaking havoc on the industry. So what’s a leasing agent to do?
The International Council on Shopping Centers asked that question at their 2009 convention held in Las Vegas. This year the council put on the first Future Image Architecture Competition where designers were asked to imagine the shopping mall of the future. According to Arieff, most were predictably futuristic; hearkening back to images of the future cast in the ’60’s by shows like the Jetsons. Her favorite contemplation of the future was designed by CommArts. CommArts’ Crossroads City dealt more with examining the gap between the current mall model and shoppers’. Rather than devising a way to trick shoppers or wow them with technological theatrics, CommArts suggested making the mall a center of community activity with a “spectacle of hands-on demos, lectures, performances, classes, tastings, parties and shows.” Consistently, the call is for retail that matters to the consumers’ way of life. Click here to read her entire commentary.
