The rise of retailtainment

Amusement and leisure attractions increasingly find homes in America’s shopping malls.

The American shopping mall has seen rapid growth in the decades since the 1950s. These retail havens were originally anchored by large department stores that attracted shoppers and made the mall popular with the masses, but the rise of e-commerce and the explosion of online shopping have changed the retail landscape irrevocably. Mall owners are now looking for new and innovative business concepts to provide a more attractive proposition for today’s consumers. These savvy operators hope to decrease vacancy rates by attracting long-term leases from tenants with lasting staying power.

Nuresh Maredia explores the growing retailtainment phenomenon