Shopping Center Data Partner Spotlight: Directory of Major Malls / ShoppingCenters.com

Posted by Lance Blick on Apr 27, 2021 6:00:00 AM

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Are you a retailer that often locates in or near major shopping centers and malls? Then you’ll want to explore the Directory of Major Malls / ShoppingCenters.com data set, which includes details on the 8,528 major open-air shopping centers, lifestyle/specialty, entertainment mixed-use, value retail and enclosed malls in the U.S. and Canada that are approximately 200,000+ square feet and larger in size.

Their dataset covers 318,658 associated tenants broken down in to 16 different categories, 42,565 VIP contacts and manually verified Longitude/Latitude coordinates (Geocodes). This essential resource for the retail industry integrates into the SiteSeer platform, making it easier than ever to analyze the data, whether you work for a major retail chain, shopping center developer, investment company or community economic development group.

We talked with Tama Shor, founder and CEO of Directory of Major Malls. Here’s what she had to say about Directory of Major Malls data, the future of malls, and much more.

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How can different SiteSeer users use the Directory of Major Malls data?

Basically, the way I say it to people is that we have all the information on individual shopping centers: where they’re located, whether they’re open air or enclosed, whether they have one floor or three, if they’ve planned a renovation or have recently expanded, and these sorts of things. So, for retailers interested in expanding, this data can inform them about key details about the centers where they’re considering locating and what their competitors are doing too. For the landlords and developers, our data gives information about markets where they’re thinking of acquiring centers or already have some. And when they zero in on a center, our data tells them about the mix of retail and other businesses in that center.

So, it’s not mall data only.

No, in fact the most featured center classification in our directory is the community center, which might be as large as 500,000 square feet and is often grocery-anchored. Then, it’s the power center, which is an open-air center with three or more big-box stores. The third most featured center in the Directory of Major Malls data set is the lifestyle/specialty center, which generally includes a mix of tenants: restaurants, movie theaters, health and wellness tenants as well as mixed use with commercial and residential and other non-retail space. There is a definite trend for conventional centers to transform to this type of format. We’ve also introduced retail boundary polygons around each of our centers as an add-on licensing option. These can be used in concert with mobile device data and demographics for a deeper analysis of the market area and visitor traffic to the properties.

DMM store category breakdown 4.12.21 (002)Is your data focused on large chains?

Our data set covers all the tenants in the properties, not just the national chains. So, that includes smaller chains or local stores. That means users of our data get a much more accurate overview of tenants in properties. In some markets or shopping centers, a local pizza restaurant might be more popular than a national chain. If you look at our breakdown by store category, our data includes anchors, shoes, women’s wear, men’s wear, children’s apparel, family clothing, food and restaurants, jewelry, gifts/cards/books, temporary tenants, barbers/beauty, specialty stores, high technology, services, entertainment and miscellaneous. We’re also tracking anchor store closures which is useful in highlighting properties which may eventually transform into a different type of center such as an open-air lifestyle, mixed-use property or another format.

How often is Directory of Major Malls data updated?

We update our data often, but on average, about 90% of our listings get updated each year. And it’s human vetted. We add listings and update tens of thousands of contacts and tenants. And if locations close, new stores are announced, or the property changes hands or announces a renovation, that gets updated too. We have a research process that involves several update campaigns annually to update and gather new data directly from the source, the shopping center owner/developers and their authorized agents. We also locate and track information through mail, phone interviews, fax, e-mail, industry periodicals, public relations contacts, the Internet and personal contact at industry events.

OK, we have to ask. What do you think about the future of the shopping mall, given today’s climate?

There is certainly a lot of talk about this, but what’s really happening is a total transformation of the industry as a whole. Many shopping centers were already getting hit hard before the pandemic because of changes in consumer habits, the increase in e-commerce activity or a change in demographics in the area where they were located. Then, COVID-19 certainly accelerated the demise of certain locations. But we don’t think the mall is dying, but rather, it’s changing. A kind of “Retailmorphisis.” And we believe that the shopping centers that position themselves to fulfill the needs of consumers are the ones that will do well.

Learn more about the Directory of Major Malls data set at www.shoppingcenters.com. For more information about this data in the SiteSeer platform, contact us!

Contact the SiteSeer team

Topics: Retail Apocalypse, Recruiting Shopping Center Tenants, Data Partner, Data Quality, Site Selection Analysis

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