With retailers penurious a record number of stores last year, malls have been experimenting with new orders of businesses to drive traffic: Everything from restaurants and movie theaters to mini golf progressions.
Now, there’s a new strategy that’s heating up – the gym. Over the last five years, gym rental agreements in malls across the country have nearly doubled, according to commercial actual estate information firm CoStar. They now account for 1 percent of all mall intermission in the U.S.
Meanwhile, gym memberships are also on the rise. Since 2009, 26 percent assorted people have joined a gym. That’s 19.3 percent of the U.S. population, or 57 million people, details from the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association said.
Mall taxis are hoping gyms will not only bring people in to work out, but that they’ll project around and shop.
However, some experts say that’s not really occurrence.
“Putting things in to get somebody to come to the mall is a good idea. The bad expos is when it’s something like a gym you don’t get very much cross shopping,” Jan Kniffen, CEO of J. Kniffen Worldwide Companies CEO, told CNBC’s “On the Money” in an interview.
The retail consultant says in the flesh may go to a juice bar, or something that’s related to their work out —but that’s involving it. As for malls that are putting in grocery stores, Kniffen says while that may urge foot traffic, it’s only to that particular store.
“When you put in a grocery collect, people do not go in the mall. They go into the grocery store, they blow the whistle on buy, and they go home.”
So is there solution to saving the mall? Kniffen pronounced yes: Bankruptcy.
“A lot of these malls will go through Chapter 11, and after the in financial difficulty is gone they can be something else, and they can be gyms, doctor’s tasks…and you can do things that don’t have to generate as much dollars per square foot, as much rentals as things have to now, to carry the debt loads,” Kniffen told CNBC.
Currently there are barely 1,100 enclosed malls in the U.S., but Kniffen stated that’s 400 too numberless as more shoppers flock to Web shopping. As a result, suburban malls from destroyed downtowns across America, Kniffen contended, as businesses go belly up and fellows dry up.
“We have ‘over-malled,’ we have over stored, we have over shopped America, and we’re due getting worse every day as more moves online,” he stated, adding that it’s not all Amazon’s unduly.
“When Walmart was 20 years old in 1982 they were 3 percent of yard sales and they got 50 cents out of every new dollar of sales. Amazon is 20 years old, it comes 3 percent of sales and it’s getting 35 cents out of every new dollar of in stocks,” Kniffen said.
He added: “Walmart destroyed traditional retailing over its rise and Amazon’s destroying its traditional retailing over its rise.” At long last, Kniffen predicted the online giant will buy Kohl’s, in order to emolument a foothold in brick-and-mortar retail.
But if not Kohl’s, the retail expert says it intention be a retailer with a large physical presence across the country.
“They’re common to buy somebody or they’re going to build a system because they’re active to have to get next to the consumer,” Kniffen added.
On the Money airs on CNBC Saturdays at 5:30 am ET, or suspension listings for air times in local markets.