Mall Owners Woo Millennials

Retailers need not fret that young adults are doing all their shopping online. Still, the changing tastes of Generation Y has retail landlords considering adding more restaurants, entertainment venues and even dog runs to appeal to fickle young shoppers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

A survey by The Urban Land Institute shows that members of Generation Y, also called Millennials, prefer dining and entertainment as part of their shopping trips. They often shop online but also frequent discount department stores and warehouse clubs.

The survey, of 1251 respondents between 18 and 35 years old, found that 45 percent spend more than an hour a day viewing retail-related websites. But they often leave the computer for social reasons, with 46 percent saying they dine out with others at least once a week and 25 percent saying they do so several times a week, according to the WSJ.

Mall owners are keen to lure Generation Y because it is a massive group numbering nearly 80 million, and its formative earnings years are ahead of it. Thus, retail properties are seeking to woo Generation Y by adding more off-line tenants such as grocery stores and more gathering venues such as restaurants and upscale theaters.

“This generation is more about experiences than acquisitions,” said M. Leanne Lachman, a real-estate consultant who organized the survey with ULI, speaking Thursday at ULI’s spring conference in San Diego, reports the WSJ. “So mall owners need to think about how to create fresh sensory stimuli without spending a lot of money.”