U.S. malls expect an unprecendented holiday season, as COVID-19 concerns appear to still be affecting consumer worries about health and social distancing. Major malls have been preparing and there are new insights into what these centers are doing to safely increase foot traffic for the upcoming Black Friday and holiday season shopping.
Technology to the Rescue
For shoppers wary of physically trying on clothing amid virus scares, and with many clothing retailers shunning dressing room usage altogether, Brookfield Properties has come up with an in-mall solution after teaming up with Fit:Match to create 3D virtual scanning and measuring pop-up studios. Temporarily test-marketed last year at Baybrook Mall in Houston, this year Brookfield is placing these Fit:Match studios into three of its malls by the end of this month: the Oakbrook Center in Oakbrook, Ill., the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, Calif., and the Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, Texas. After answering a short series of questions, participants enter what resembles a fitting room while the Fit:Match technology does a body scan in ten seconds, and then provides exact size measurements, as well as a customized assortment of in-store retailer apparel choices based on the participant’s preferences whether it be form-fitting clothes, casual clothes, tailored clothes, etc.
In October, mall owner Centennial will make its “Shop Now!” software platform, developed by the Adeptmind technology company, available on its malls’ websites. Centennial is banking on this technology to improve and help mitigate its holiday in-store social distancing issues. After clicking on the Shop Now! icon, customers can enter an item they are searching for and the site will draw from the entire inventory of the selected mall’s retailers, while allowing for search refinements such as size and length. Food items are also available on the platform.
At that point, the customer can either purchase the item online and receive it via at-home delivery within a two-hour window, arrange curbside pick-up or schedule an in-store pickup. By 2 021 the Shop Now! feature will include the option of purchasing items from more than one retailer on just one final transaction at checkout, rather than separate store transactions.
Simon Property Group has partnered with ShopShops, a livestream shopping app, to allow shoppers to virtually walk into its malls’ stores and make purchases. For now the livestreaming is expected to take place once a week at Simon’s Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Woodbury, N.Y. Those watching the livestream feel as if they are actually shopping in the store by typing in questions to the host, such as asking to see more details about a particular item, or asking to see additional products in the featured store, before putting said items into an online basket for purchase. Look for other Simon Property malls to possibly follow suit.
Cafaro’s indoor Eastwood Mall Complex in Niles, Ohio, has hired Bella Group Design, a manufacturing firm in Texas, for the Santa Safety Guard, an acrylic shield that enables safely distanced Santa lap photos. With the guard placed between the sitting Santa and a separate bench for the guests, photos can be taken to make it look as if everyone is in the shot together. This still allows the one-on-one child/Santa interaction to take place during the holidays, albeit with an acrylic shield separating the two. Bella Group Design is also testing different variations of the concept, including an orb shape resembling a snow globe that separates Santa from guests. Watch for other malls to implement the Santa Safety Guard in time for the holidays.
Pop-Ups Reign Supreme
Many malls are expecting to open pop-up shop locations for popular brands during the holiday months to help mitigate social distancing limitations. Lululemon will open up to 70 pop-up units in the second half of 2020 at its high-traffic mall locations. In addition to housing its most popular items, the pop-up sites are also an effective way for the brand to sell any excess inventory. Expect to see the pop-up Lululemon locations at malls in Orla ndo, Fla., Orange County, Calif., and Dallas.
Pandora Jewelers has also jumped on the pop-up bandwagon and has leased a specialty leasing cart in front of its stores at the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Ill., and the Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills, Ill., in anticipation of excess foot traffic for the holidays.
Pop-up retailer COVID-19 Essentials (some stores go by the name COVID-19 Inc.) opened its most recent store at the Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, Colo., this month. Other COVID-19 Essentials stores that popped up over the summer and are still thriving include a unit at the Aventura Mall in Aventura, Fla., and a unit at The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, N.J. The COVID-19 Inc. stores are now open at the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, N.J., and the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pa. All of the stores sell a large assortment of face masks, hand sanitizers, scented mask sprays, and even key-like apparatuses that can open doors and press buttons in a contactless way.
Popular Mall Tenants for the 2020 Holidays
Lego hopes to open approximately 50 to 75 new The Lego Store units in the U.S., ideally by the 2020 holiday season, banking on the trend of families purchasing mentally engaging durable toys for their children during the coronavirus lockdown. A new The Lego Store is expected to go into the Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda, Md., before the holiday season, next to the Apple Store, as well as a 2,300-s.f. unit the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga, N.Y.
With customers expected to continue the “cocooning” trend this holiday season, home décor stores should see a surge of sales, especially due to the need to boost spirits via decorative homey touches. At Home is in a good position to take over big-box mall space, and the brand signed a 10-year lease f or a 100,000-s.f. ground floor unit in a former Macy’s at the Shops at Nanuet lifestyle center in Nanuet, N.Y. At Home hopes to open in time for the holidays, and the brand continues to hunt for other second generation big-box spaces.
