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Malls’ New Anchor Tenants May Just Work Out
Once upon a time, department stores were the obvious contenders to be malls’ anchor tenants. But, the intersection of several emerging trends has made the case for gyms to be the new kid on the block.
Combined with the rise of ecommerce and the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores, the proliferation of boutique fitness gyms are causing malls to rethink their long-standing models. For example, Chicago-based GGP Inc. plans to introduce fitness centers into half of its 115 malls over the next decade. Westfield, which owns 33 U.S. malls, has some sort of health club in at least half of its locations, which is up more than 10% over the last decade.
As a whole, the fitness industry is on the rise, and the social acceptance of athleisure further supports fitness centers as mall tenants. The proof is in the numbers: 57 million people were members of a club last year, which represents 19.3% of the country’s population and a rise of 26% since 2009 (source: IHRSA). What’s even more compelling is that, in 2016, more than 40% of health-club members reported household incomes of more than $100,000. (source: IHRSA).
Cardlytics analytics reported that consumer spending at fitness centers has increased YOY (Q3) by 3.7%, whereas the increase in apparel spending from physical retail stores only rose by .5%.
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