Malls? Those are just for cheesecake now
The slow death of the American mall may not have been a death at all, but a rebirth of sorts.
Taking the place of the vast retail hubs filled with clothing and electronics chains: vast hubs filled with sandwich and bubble-tea chains.
New data from Yelp shows that dining has increasingly become the primary reason people head to the mall, with the number of food businesses growing 7% since 2019. Led by the opulent, Mordor-esque Cheesecake Factory, 17 of the top 25 most popular mall brands are restaurants.
Food space now amounts to about one-fifth of the typical mall, up from one-twentieth in the Spencer’s Gifts era.
New data from Yelp shows that dining has increasingly become the primary reason people head to the mall, with the number of food businesses growing 7% since 2019. Led by the opulent, Mordor-esque Cheesecake Factory, 17 of the top 25 most popular mall brands are restaurants.
Food space now amounts to about one-fifth of the typical mall, up from one-twentieth in the Spencer’s Gifts era.
