Mall parking lots are becoming barren wastelands, so why not throw a concert or a circus to fill the void – PB/TK
Desperate Malls Turn to Concerts and Food Trucks – by Heather Perlberg
Malls are fighting for shoppers with one thing their web rivals can’t offer: parking lots.
With customer traffic sagging, U.S. retail landlords are using their sprawling concrete lots to host events such as carnivals, concerts and food-truck festivals. They’re aiming to lure visitors with experiences that can’t be replicated online — and then get them inside the properties to spend some money.
“Events draw people to come to the shopping center,” said Keith Herkimer, whose company, KevaWorks Inc., is working with big landlords including GGP Inc. and Simon Property Group Inc. to produce outdoor events. “They generate revenue for the owner and offer a chance for cross-promotion, so they can try and drive more customers into the stores.”
Mall owners across the country are grappling with record store closings and declining rents. Retail property values are down 3 percent in past six months, as all other types of commercial real estate showed gains, according to the Moody’s/Real Capital Analytics indexes. A Bloomberg gauge of publicly traded mall landlords has tumbled 15 percent in the past year, the worst performance among U.S. real estate investment trusts.
Continue to Bloomberg.com article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-21/mall-owners-fighting-online-stores-turn-to-concerts-food-trucks
