Study Shows Teens Returning To The Mall

Some good news to start the week for mall operators in need of some. Apparently, the desire of teenagers to hang out at the mall may be withstanding the test of time and digital commerce.

A new study released by William Blair finds that teens and young adults — the demographic whose indifference almost slayed both Aéropostale and PacSun this year — are actually visiting the mall more than they were even a year ago.

Among respondents to the survey, 41 percent reflected an uptick in their mall visitation over the last 365 days. Good news — though, perhaps slightly undercut by the contrary result that nearly the same percentage (37 percent) are visiting the mall less than they were a year ago.

Still embattled by the last few years of ever-diminishing returns, the results still come as a breath of fresh air to the retail sector. This is the first survey that has reflected positive growth in mall visitation since 2013.

And there was a bit more good news on offer. Almost a quarter of teen respondents (24 percent) noted that the mall is their favored choice for meeting with friends. That beat out movie theaters (21 percent), restaurants (21 percent) and sports/clubs and other sponsored extracurricular activities (10 percent).

“While overall mall traffic remains challenging, our survey this year noted a material increase in the number of respondents who indicated they are visiting malls more often than last year, perhaps suggesting that malls’ efforts to increase relevancy (through more experiential brands and the addition of attractive entertainment and dining options) are beginning to bear fruit,” analyst Sharon Zackfia explained.

Mall retailers have been hit hard and, of course, will hope that the trend emerging now is the beginning of something as opposed to a retail blip in the teen demographic. The issue also remains of drawing teens to the mall being just half the battle. Those teens also have to actually shop, as opposed to only hang out, or their presence is not as valuable.

But where this is foot traffic, there is hope, and for mall operators, that might be good enough after a difficult period.