Shopping centers come in all shapes and sizes, and each type has its own unique features and advantages. From one-stop-shop malls to regional and superregional centers, there are four main types of shopping centers that are commonly found in the United States and Canada. In this article, we'll explore the different types of shopping centers and their characteristics. The four most common types of shopping centers are one-stop-shop malls, neighborhood centers, community centers, and regional and superregional centers.
A one-stop-shop mall is a shopping center that offers a wide variety of products and services in one convenient location. These malls typically have a large selection of clothing stores, department stores, restaurants, and other retail outlets. They are usually located in busy urban areas and attract a large number of shoppers. Neighborhood centers are smaller than one-stop-shop malls and typically feature a supermarket as the anchor store.
These stores are designed to make buying food and other everyday needs easy for a particular neighborhood. Other stores in these centers may include pharmacies, small restaurants or takeaway stores, or stores selling personal items such as dry cleaners or spas. Community centers are similar to neighborhood centers but are usually larger in size. These malls typically feature a variety of stores including clothing stores, department stores, restaurants, and other retail outlets.
They are usually located in suburban areas and attract shoppers from the surrounding area. Regional and superregional centers are the largest type of shopping center. A regional mall is a shopping place that offers general products (a large percentage of which are clothing) and services in depth and breadth. A typical regional shopping mall is usually closed with an orientation towards the interior of the stores, connected by a common walkway, and parking surrounds the outer perimeter.
According to the International Council on Shopping Centers, any mall that is designed to serve a large number of local people and that is larger, with a gross leasable area of 400,000 to 800,000 square feet (74,000 m²), with at least two main stores, is known as a regional mall. A superregional mall is an extension of regional malls in terms of size and variety of products. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, any mall that is designed to serve a large population base and that is larger, with more than 800,000 square feet (74,000 m²) of gross leasable area, and that serves as the dominant shopping location in the region (25 miles) in which it is located, is known as a superregional mall. Superregional malls usually feature three or more presenters who serve visitors with mass merchants, more variety, and a wider selection of products. Most regional malls are multi-level and serve as dominant malls for the region in which they are located. The credit for the creation of the first vertical shopping center lies with Marco Company, the former mall development division of Marshall Field & Co., which in 1960 conceived the idea of a vertical shopping center. The Water Tower Place skyscraper finally appeared in 1975 as the first vertical shopping center in Chicago, Illinois. It contains a hotel, luxury condominiums and offices, and is located on a block-long base that contains an eight-level atrium-style retail mall that overlooks the Magnificent Mile.
The mall has almost 100 stores spread over eight different levels. In addition to this, it contains several restaurants, restaurants and a live theater arranged around a chrome and glass atrium with glass elevators. Today along North Michigan Avenue the mall is joined by The Shops at North Bridge and Avenue Atrium (popularly known as 900 North Michigan) stores which contain high-end retail blends. The entire building is designed in such a way as to address the challenge of providing separate entrances and vertical circulation for what amounts to a regional mall, department store, theater, offices, hotel and residences. A shopping mall (commonly known as a shopping center or mini mall) is an open-area shopping place where several stores are generally arranged in a row with a sidewalk in front. Shopping malls are usually developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front facing major traffic arteries. They tend to be autonomous with few pedestrian connections to surrounding neighborhoods. Shopping malls are very common in most suburban areas of the United States and Canada.
Some of these malls are as small as 5000 square feet while others are more than 100000 square feet. These malls usually cater to the local population and have a variety of products depending on location and demand. The other form of shopping mall in the United States is often anchored at one end by a large retailer such as Target Wal-Mart or Kohl's and by a large supermarket at the other. In the real estate development industry shopping malls are also known as energy centers as they attract and serve residents of a local and extended population area. The type of retailers can vary from grocery stores to bookstores electronics stores etc.
