As Gen Alpha searches for IRL, offline experiences, mall owners are encouraging young people to come back, hang out and shop till they drop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite growing up with iPads in their strollers, these kids \u2014 born from around 2010 on \u2014 are so over-pixelated that they crave in-person social interactions. That\u2019s why malls are now stepping up and providing their youngest shoppers with stores and experiences that do just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalls are making a comeback and it\u2019s a younger audience that is doing it,\u201d said R.J. Hottovy of\u00a0Placer.ai,\u00a0which tracks visits. \u201cIt\u2019s a third place that is away from home and office, and instead of just shopping, it is becoming a place for experiences \u2014 and hanging out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kings Plaza is getting a refresh. Courtesy of Macerich<\/p>\n
The reinvention of malls across America has not skipped over the metro area. The Macerich Company \u2014 which has 38 million square feet around the country, hosting 4,300 different brands and tenants \u2014 is busy updating its New York holdings. Both the Kings Plaza and Green Acres malls in Valley Stream, as well as the Queens Center, where Primark opened in 2024, are being refreshed for a new generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a big jigsaw puzzle and you can change the retailers,\u201d said Kurt Ivey of Macerich who said hundreds are changed out each year. \u201cIt keeps the mall interesting, engaging and dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Greenacres, they are reimagining 400,000 square feet after tearing down a Sears and a parking garage, while adding a grocer, Quick Service Restaurants, and retailers like JD Sports and Foot Locker.<\/p>\n
Cardi B. made a cameo at Queens Center. Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Live Nation<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers are really starting to come back to malls, fueled by Gen Z making a return to malls and physical purchases,\u201d said Ivey.<\/p>\n
Macerich is updating and adding visual elements including artwork and statues to make the centers more Instagrammable as these new mall rats take pictures of everything, from the food to merchandise.<\/p>\n
In September, a pregnant Cardi B. held her album release party for\u00a0\u201cAm I the Drama?\u201d\u00a0at the Hot Topic at Queens Center. Ivey said Cardi B. chose the spot because it feels like a suburban mall and has a large youth demographic.<\/p>\n
Tweens, used to being schlepped to malls in strollers, are now the biggest fans of shopping centers.<\/p>\n
At the Shops at Columbus Circle, Related is vying to make their mall a viral sensation for teens, tweens and their parents, too. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Related\u2019s Esty Ottensoser, who focuses on the Shops at Columbus Circle, said her 8-year-old daughter thinks she has the coolest job in the world since she and her friends love hanging out in malls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are being engaged online on social media and then want this very high touch experience that is happening in real time in a physical space,\u201d Ottensoser said of both Gen Z and Gen Alpha. \u201cThey are learning about that J.Crew cream sweater, and then are coming into our center, shopping in J.Crew, shopping elsewhere, and hanging out with friends. And really using it as a third space.\u201d<\/p>\n
One upcoming store, Brooklyn\u2019s PowerHouse Books, will have in-person readings that are expected to be popular. The center\u2019s Bad Roman Italian restaurant went viral over its unique lemon mousse cheesecake served inside two yellow-chocolate lemons \u2014 and now does upwards of $20 million a year.<\/p>\n
The Shops is enlisting live events and exciting retailers. Courtesy of The Shops at Columbus Circle<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know what they want, learn about it online and then come to shop in person for their experience,\u201d Ottensoser said of the kids.<\/p>\n
To keep shoppers in malls longer, Related is creating programming, activations and experiences \u2014 including performances by Broadway stars \u2014 that are highly engaging.\u00a0 \u201cCome hang out, get Starbucks, go shopping,\u201d said Ottensoser. \u201cIt\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related is always upgrading and adding stores with leases just signed for a new Aritzia flagship and Madewell along with a Royal Caf\u00e9 tea kiosk that will open in May.<\/p>\n
Experts said some of the hottest tenants now include the updated Gap along with Coach, which is concentrating on Gen Z product lines.<\/p>\n
This fall, downtown shopping center the Oculus is welcoming in a Uniqlo. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n
Downtown, the Oculus, owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, is\u00a0welcoming\u00a0Calzedonia this spring with Uniqlo opening in the fall. Stores that include Pop Mart, Pandora and Rebag already cater to a younger audience. The Oculus also expects that Chick-fil-A, opening soon, will be a big hit with the Gen Z audience, while Fogo de Ch\u00e3o opened last summer and continues to be popular with that same demographic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGen Z and Gen Alpha aren\u2019t just shopping \u2014 they want culture, connection and experiences you can\u2019t get online,\u201d said Colin Shaughnessy, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield US executive vice president of leasing. \u201cThat\u2019s why we focus on bold, social-first activations and partnerships with brands like E.L.F. Beauty; Tyler, the Creator; and Netflix \u2014 creating buzz, discovery and reasons to keep coming back to the Oculus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMalls are making a comeback and it\u2019s a younger audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
R.J. Hottovy of\u00a0Placer.ai<\/p>\n
In a new report, \u201cHow Malls Can Win in 2026,\u201d\u00a0Placer.ai\u00a0found shoppers all over America are either staying longer \u2014 upwards of 75 minutes \u2014 or making under-30-minute quick\u00a0trips, \u201cunderscoring malls\u2019 growing role as convenient, high-utility destinations for picking up an online order, grabbing a quick bite or making a targeted purchase.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, the\u00a0Placer.ai\u00a0report concluded, \u201cThe malls that thrive will be those that clearly define their role in their customers\u2019 lives and execute against it with intention \u2014 whether by decisively optimizing for efficiency, fully investing in experience or thoughtfully integrating both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hottovy of\u00a0Placer.ai\u00a0said they are seeing a shift in the tenant mixes with more food and dining options as well as fitness and experiential venues.<\/p>\n
For brands, the report explained, \u201cit means high-impact access to Gen Z consumers in discovery mode \u2014 top-of-funnel engagement that is increasingly difficult and expensive to replicate through digital channels alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green Acres mall in Valley Stream, NY. Courtesy of Macerich<\/p>\n
Some of the up-and-coming brands focused on interactivity are also taking up tons of space. Macerich is bringing the interactive Level99 to its mall in Tysons Corner in Maryland but, so far, not to this metro area. Designed for adults and teams of two to six players, Level99 includes 50 interactive and Instagrammable games that are accessed with wristbands.<\/p>\n
Other large concepts are coming closer to home. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The Shops at Skyview in Flushing was purchased in January for $407.5 million by Texas-based TPG and Acadia Realty Trust of Rye, NY, after the previous owners leased large swaths to other experiential tenants.<\/p>\n
Soon to open at Skyview are Bowling & Arcade Round1 \u2014 a\u00a080,240-square-foot\u00a0amusement filled space with bowling, arcades and claw machines; a\u00a049,733-square-foot\u00a0Sky Zone trampoline park; and a 23,946-square-foot Jongro BBQ, a Korean food concept, already a Manhattan favorite.<\/p>\n
The Palisades Center in West Nyack is being respun after selling for a song in February. Courtesy of Macerich<\/p>\n
In Rockland County, NY, the Palisades Center in West Nyack was valued at $881 million in 2016. Now, a decade later, the 2.3 million-square-foot mall was acquired in a foreclosure in February for just $175 million. New owners, Black Diamond Capital Management, said it will keep on the Spinoso Real Estate Group, which has been stabilizing the center since 2024. The goal? Bring it back to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearby, Joseph Farkas of Metropolitan Realty Associates, is more cautious and just leased 35,000 square feet to Best Buy at his strip center in Nyack where they will move from the Palisades Center. \u201cWe look for tenants that we think have longevity, and we\u2019re not trying to test out tenants that might make it or don\u2019t make it,\u201d said Farkas. \u201cThere\u2019s a heavy price to pay to put a tenant in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farkas says malls are based on a 70-year-old business model that has been forced to change. Now, where local governments allow, malls are adding residential spaces \u2014 especially for childless senior citizens who want the town-like walkability and don\u2019t use local schools \u2014 as well as hotels, medical facilities and fitness centers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe major anchors of those malls, the department stores, have gone out of business, with the exception of one or two, which have downsized dramatically,\u201d Farkas said. \u201cYou can reposition them, but an 800,000-square-foot mall is impossible to backfill.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Gen Alpha searches for IRL, offline experiences, mall owners are encouraging young people to come back, hang…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1489,235,9,24,63,122,124,123,1491,821,9331,34034],"class_list":{"0":"post-207398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-commercial-real-estate","9":"tag-gen-z","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-queens","14":"tag-queens-headlines","15":"tag-queens-news","16":"tag-real-estate","17":"tag-restaurants","18":"tag-rockland-county","19":"tag-shopping-malls"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}