{"id":33913,"date":"2020-12-11T16:28:27","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T21:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=33913"},"modified":"2020-12-14T10:38:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T15:38:52","slug":"as-covid-and-online-shopping-hurt-stores-malls-shift-strategies-to-attract-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/12\/as-covid-and-online-shopping-hurt-stores-malls-shift-strategies-to-attract-business\/","title":{"rendered":"As COVID And Online Shopping Hurt Stores, Malls Shift Strategies To Attract Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_33914\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33914\" style=\"width: 195px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33914\" src=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/12\/mall-story-hc-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/12\/mall-story-hc-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2020\/12\/mall-story-hc.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sammy Foda owns Two Strains, a CBD store and one of the small shops at Aviation Mall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Christine Graf<br \/>\nAs more retail stores are forced to close due to the rise of online shopping, malls are being forced to reinvent themselves in order to survive. They are adding attractions and businesses that traditionally wouldn\u2019t be located in malls.<br \/>\nPyramid Management Group\u2019s Aviation Mall in Queensbury is evolving to meet the changing landscape of the retail marketplace. In June, they were granted a zoning change that allows the company to build an apartment complex connected to the mall by two short paths. The project has been temporarily halted due to COVID-19.<br \/>\nAviation Mall general manager James Griffith said COVID-19 has also impacted other negotiations that were in the works. Retailers are hesitant to make any decisions until the pandemic has ended.<br \/>\n\u201cWe were working on quite a few things, then COVID happened. COVID definitely slowed down some of the momentum we had with some of these national tenants. We\u2019re in a holding pattern,\u201d said Griffith.<br \/>\nHe noted the mall isn\u2019t just going after retail tenants anymore. The mall is open to uses that typically wouldn\u2019t be in a traditional shopping center.<br \/>\n\u201cOne use that has been great this year that is an entertainment use is Adirondack Zombie Hunters,\u201d he said. They were in downtown Lake George and came here about a year ago. They are just knocking it out of the park.\u201d<br \/>\nAdirondack Zombie Hunters occupies a 3,000-square-foot space. In addition to selling survival and military surplus merchandise, the store features two laser-based shooting range simulators.<!--more--><br \/>\n\u201cWe\u2019re fielding a lot of inquiries in terms of different uses coming into the center, so the landscape of what a shopping center is going to look like over the next decade is going to change,\u201d said Griffith. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be like a town center with a mix of experiences, services, retail, dining, and residential.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWhat you have seen over the course of the last several years is the re-purposing of space within the mall to alternative uses that actually make our mall more diverse,\u201d said Wilton Mall property manager Mike Shaffer. \u201cThis started for us back in 2012 with the opening of Healthy Living Market and Caf\u00e9 at the mall along with Planet Fitness gym.<br \/>\n\u201cAnd then we transitioned to putting a Home Goods in a mall site which is not typical for them. That took up six previous small spaces. We did the same thing with Ulta Beauty a few years ago. We boxed up three small spaces into one larger space. And now, the welcome addition of Saratoga Hospital is a re-purposing of Sears which was a large anchor store,\u201d he said.<br \/>\n\u201cQuite frankly, those kinds of retailers are hard to find to fill big spaces. It\u2019s about re-purposing space to continue to keep the mall relevant.\u201d<br \/>\nSaratoga Hospital moved into a 56,000-square-foot space in September.<br \/>\nThe majority of the square footage is occupied by more than 100 information technology and health information services staff members. The employees were relocated to the mall from the main hospital campus off Church Street in Saratoga Springs.<br \/>\nThe hospital\u2019s mall location also includes the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, home to the hospital\u2019s first hyperbaric oxygen chambers. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy utilizes pure oxygen in a pressurized environment to speed the wound-healing process.<br \/>\nAccording to Angelo Calbone, Saratoga Hospital president and CEO, the move allows the hospital to utilize more of its campus space for acute care.<br \/>\n\u201cWe have more than 20 locations throughout the Saratoga region, but only one place\u2014our hospital campus\u2014is equipped with the technology and expertise to meet the needs of our most critically ill patients,\u201d he said. \u201cWe owe it to our growing community to make the best use of every square foot of that campus by dedicating it to services that can\u2019t be provided anywhere else.\u201d<br \/>\nIn addition to Saratoga Hospital, Equitas Realty\/Equitas Realty Management is another of the mall\u2019s new tenants. The realty and property management company was previously located in downtown Saratoga Springs.<br \/>\nHempire State CBD will be also be opening a store at the Wilton Mall in the near future.<br \/>\nMalls throughout the country face the additional challenge of reassuring shoppers that it is safe to shop at malls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aviation Mall and Wilton Mall have intensified their cleaning and sanitizing protocols and are employing the use of electrostatic sprayers to clean nonporous surfaces. Both malls have installed MERV filters that remove a higher percentage of contaminants in the air. Shoppers at both malls are required to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.<br \/>\nSince being allowed to reopen in July, the malls have experienced a gradual increase in traffic.<br \/>\n\u201cWhen we first opened, quite a few of our national tenants had not reopened,\u201d said Griffith. \u201cWe saw the traffic steadily increase when these stores reopened. During the summer, we saw some pretty good traffic based on regional tourism. We\u2019re not seeing traffic late into evening. That has a lot to do with Regal Cinema not being able to reopen yet.\u201d<br \/>\nAccording to Shaffer, retailers are forgoing major holiday sales that would attract large crowds. Instead, they are spreading out their sales over a longer period of time.<br \/>\n\u201cRetailers are prepared for an extended holiday season that started early due to a number of factors including pent up demand by shoppers who have missed in-store shopping,\u201d he said.<br \/>\nFor more information, visit shopaviationmall.com and wiltonmall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Christine Graf As more retail stores are forced to close due to the rise of online shopping, malls are being forced to reinvent themselves in order to survive. They are adding attractions and businesses that traditionally wouldn\u2019t be located in malls. Pyramid Management Group\u2019s Aviation Mall in Queensbury is evolving to meet the changing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":33914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>As COVID And Online Shopping Hurt Stores, Malls Shift Strategies To Attract Business - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2020\/12\/as-covid-and-online-shopping-hurt-stores-malls-shift-strategies-to-attract-business\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As COVID And Online Shopping Hurt Stores, Malls Shift Strategies To Attract Business - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Christine Graf As more retail stores are forced to close due to the rise of online shopping, malls are being forced to reinvent themselves in order to survive. 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