Classifications of Shopping Malls
The International Council of Shopping Centers classifies shopping malls into eight basic types: neighborhood center, community center, regional center, superregional center, fashion/specialty center, power center, theme/festival center, and outlet center.
Community Center
[Wiki] Community centers (or community malls) are larger than neighborhood centers, and offer a wider range of goods. They usually feature two anchor stores which are larger than that of a neighborhood center's, e.g. a discount department store. They may also follow a strip configuration, or may be L- or U-shaped. Community centers usually feature a retail area of 100,000 to 350,000 square feet (9,300 to 32,500 m2) and serve a primary area of 3 to 6 miles (4.8 to 9.7 km).
[Costar] A shopping center development that has a total square footage between 100,000 – 350,000 SF. Generally will have 2-3 large anchored tenants, but not department store anchors. Community Center typically offers a wider range of apparel and other soft goods than the Neighborhood Center. Among the more common anchors are supermarkets and super drugstores. Community Center tenants sometime contain retailers selling such items as apparel, home improvement/furnishings, toys, electronics or sporting goods. The center is usually configured as a strip, in a straight line, or an “L” or “U” shape.
Freestanding Retail
[Costar] Single tenant building with a retail tenant. Examples include video stores, fast food restaurant, etc.
General Retail
[Costar] Typically are single tenant freestanding general purpose commercial buildings with parking. Many single retail buildings fall into this use code, especially when they don’t meet any of the more detailed use code descriptions.
Lifestyle Center
[Costar] An upscale, specialty retail, main street concept shopping center. An open center, usually without anchors, about 300,000 SF GLA or larger, located near affluent neighborhoods, includes upscale retail, trendy restaurants and entertainment retail. Nicely landscaped with convenient parking located close to the stores.
Mall
[Costar] The combined retail center types of Lifestyle Center, Regional Mall and Super Regional Mall.
Neighborhood Center
[Wiki] Neighborhood centers are small-scale malls serving the local neighborhood. They typically have a supermarket or a drugstore as an anchor, and are commonly arranged in a strip mall format. Neighborhood centers usually have a retail area of 30,000 to 150,000 square feet (2,800 to 13,900 m2), and serve a primary area in a 3-mile (4.8 km) radius. They are sometimes known as convenience centers.
[Costar] Provides for the sales of convenience goods (food, drugs, etc.) and personal services (laundry, dry cleaning, etc.) for day-to-day living needs of the immediate neighborhood with a supermarket being the principal tenant. In theory, the typical GLA is 50,000 square feet. In practice, the GLA may range from 30,000 to
100,000 square feet.
Outlet Center
[Wiki] An outlet mall (or outlet center) is a type of shopping mall in which manufacturers sell their products directly to the public through their own stores. Other stores in outlet malls are operated by retailers selling returned goods and discontinued products, often at heavily reduced prices. Outlet stores were found as early as 1936, but the first multi-store outlet mall, Vanity Fair, located in Reading, PA did not open until 1974. Belz Enterprises opened the first enclosed factory outlet mall in 1979, in Lakeland, TN, a suburb of Memphis.
[Costar] Usually located in a rural or occasionally in a tourist location, an Outlet Center consists of manufacturer’s outlet stores selling their own brands at a discount. 50,000 – 500,000 SF. An Outlet Center does not have to be anchored. A strip configuration is most common, although some are enclosed malls and others can be
arranged in a village cluster.
Power Center
[Wiki] Power centers are large shopping centers that almost exclusively feature several big-box retailers as their anchors. They usually have a retail area of 250,000 to 600,000 square feet (23,000 to 56,000 m2) and a primary trade area of 5 to 10 miles (8.0 to 16.1 km).
[Costar] The center typically consists of several freestanding (unconnected) anchors and only a minimum amount of small specialty tenants. 250,000 – 600,000 SF. A Power Center is dominated by several large anchors, including discount department stores, offprice stores, warehouse clubs, or "category killers," i.e., stores that
offer tremendous selection in a particular merchandise category at low prices.
Regional center
[Wiki] A regional mall is, per the International Council of Shopping Centers, in the United States, a shopping mall which is designed to service a larger area (15 miles) than a conventional shopping mall. As such, it is typically larger with 400,000 sq ft (37,000 m2) to 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) gross leasable area with at least two anchor stores and offers a wider selection of stores. Given their wider service area, these malls tend to have higher-end stores that need a larger area in order for their services to be profitable but may have discount department stores. Regional malls are also found as tourist attractions in vacation areas.
Regional Mall
[Costar] Provides shopping goods, general merchandise, apparel, and furniture, and home furnishings in full depth and variety. It is built around the full-line department store with a minimum GLA of 100,000 square feet, as the major drawing power. For even greater comparative shopping, two, three, or more department stores may be included. In theory a regional center has a GLA of 400,000 square feet, and may range from 300,000 to more than 1,000,000 square
feet. Regional centers in excess of 750,000 square feet GLA with three or more department stores are considered Super Regional. (See also: Super Regional Mall)
Shopping Center
[Costar] The combined retail center types of Community Center, Neighborhood Center and Strip Center.
Fashion/Specialty Center
[Wiki] Fashion or specialty centers feature upscale apparel shops and boutiques and cater to customers with higher incomes. They usually have a retail area ranging from 80,000 to 250,000 square feet (7,400 to 23,200 m2) and serve an area of 5 to 15 miles (8.0 to 24.1 km).
[Costar] The combined retail center types of Airport Retail, Outlet Center and Theme/Festival Center.
Strip Center
[Costar] A strip center is an attached row of stores or service outlets managed as a coherent retail entity, with on-site parking usually located in front of the stores. Open canopies may connect the storefronts, but a strip center does not have enclosed walkways linking the stores. A strip center may be configured in a straight line, or have
an "L" or "U" shape.
Superregional center
[Wiki] A super regional mall is, per the International Council of Shopping Centers, in the US a shopping mall with over 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) of gross leasable area, three or more anchors, mass merchant, more variety, fashion apparel, and serves as the dominant shopping venue for the region (25 miles) in which it is located.
Super Regional Mall
[Costar] Similar to a regional mall, but because of its larger size, a super regional mall has more anchors, a deeper
selection of merchandise, and draws from a larger population base. As with regional malls, the typical configuration is as an enclosed mall, frequently with multiple levels (See also: Regional Mall).
Theme/Festival Center
[Wiki] Theme or festival centers have distinct unifying themes that are followed by their individual shops as well as their architecture. They are usually located in urban areas and cater to tourists. They typically feature a retail area of 80,000 to 250,000 square feet (7,400 to 23,200 m2).
[Costar] These centers typically employ a unifying theme that is carried out by the individual shops in their architectural design and, to an extent, in their merchandise. Sometimes the biggest appeal of these centers is to tourists; they can be anchored by restaurants and entertainment facilities. These centers, generally located in urban areas, tend to be adapted from older, sometimes historic, buildings, and can be part of mixed-use projects. 80,000
– 250,000 SF.
