In the old days, mall economics were so simple: Plunk down two big department stores as anchors and sandwich smaller shops in between. Open doors.
But the past 20 years, the draw of the major department store has begun to erode, with many sold or shuttered as aging malls struggled to modernize. Remember Dayton's? Donaldson's? Powers?
The news last week that Bloomingdale's is leaving the Mall of America comes just after Sears' recent announcement that it was closing 25 of its "full-line" stores nationwide -- most of which are in anchor malls, although none in the Twin Cities.
"Department stores are not exactly dead, but they're obviously troubled," said retail historian Jack Thomas, of the website www.deadmalls.com. "Everyone wants one-stop shopping. The problem with department stores and malls is nobody wants to go to multiple stores to get what they need."
After word that Bloomingdale's will be shutting its doors in March, retail followers wondered whether the Bloomington megamall -- the nation's largest -- would be left with a gaping hole in its grin of retail offering.
Yet at the same time the news was confirmed, Mall of America officials excitedly announced a new cluster of "junior anchors" for the south end of the shopping center where Bloomingdale's now stands. No tenants were revealed for the $30 million to $50 million project, but spokesman Daniel Jasper promised they would be "major international fashion-forward" retailers.
"A center of that magnitude won't have any problem leasing out that space," said Jessie Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Splitting up the space "will be a lot easier than trying to find one tenant to fill the whole space," he added.
Tron noted that the megamall's strategy of rethinking the traditional anchor space and replacing it with smaller stores has been tried in other regional malls, too. The success depends on the individual center and the retailers.