What Does The Future Hold For Luxury Malls?
Last year I wrote about Nouvelle at Natick, a new development attached to a mall in the suburbs of Boston. The mall itself, the Natick Collection, seems to be in a bit of trouble. The Boston Globe reports that the mall, which is home to the state's first Nordstrom and first suburban Neiman Marcus, is having trouble attracting shoppers. The mall seems to be a victim of several different factors that include the fear of a recession and high gas prices as well as the fact that those in the suburbs of Boston are conditioned to heading to the city to do their luxury shopping. According to the Globe, the older part of the mall, which is home to traditional mall fixtures like Macy's and Gap is still doing well. Meanwhile the new luxury portion of the mall is hosting cocktail afternoons, lunches and yoga classes to attract attention. This news comes at a time whenever another huge luxury mall with a residence component has opened in a place not known for luxury stores. This week saw the launch of Americana at Brand in Glendale, California by developer Rick Caruso. Caruso has had a big success with his Grove complex which is located in a more traditionally shopping friendly portion of Los Angeles. Americana at Brand, like the Natick Collection is located in an area in which there is already a thriving mall that caters to a more middle market crowd and it also has a residential part. The article in the Globe posits Natick's affluent surbanites might simply not be ready for luxury spending down the street. Certainly the shopping styles in suburban Los Angeles and suburban Boston differ but it makes me wonder if in six or eight months, Americana at Brand might be facing a similar slowdown. For this week at least the area is swarmed with people checking out the sparkling new shopping center but whether or not that will convert to solid sales will be found after the novelty wears off.
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