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SPORTS BRING IN THE FAMILIES

The concept of replacing a department store with a YMCA or some other athletic facility isn’t so far-fetched,” said Paco Underhill, a mall-design expert and the managing director of Envirosell, a New York City-based retail consulting firm. “It generates steady traffic and it fits in with today’s multitasking lifestyle, where customers can shop and get other things done as well.”

A Philadelphia-based company called Mall Ball, for example, has installed enclosed basketball ranges in the Gallery at Market East mall in Center City, Pa., and at Prince Georges Mall outside Washington, D.C. The company has invested $15 million on these ranges, which use authentic NBA backboards, rims, score clocks and hardwood floors. An emcee calls the action.

“We are always looking for ways to bring in more families to malls and Mall Ball is a good way to do that,” said Cheryl Dougherty vice president of marketing at PREIT, the mall’s owner.

The ski slope at Xanadú Madrid, in Spain, has been such a hit that about a dozen developers are considering similar attractions at centers across Europe, says David Gester, a vice president at RTKL Associates, a retail architecture firm that was not involved with the project. The Mills Meadowlands Xanadu, in New Jersey, will also have an indoor ski slope.

“Sports-oriented interactive venues like ski slopes are extremely desirable for developers,” Gester said. “They bring in young boys and their girlfriends to capture a very hard-to-get demographic. Ski slopes also give the whole shopping center a youthful, health-oriented buzz.”

Thus a day on the slopes turns into a day at the mall.

“Indoor ski slopes attract shoppers who want to spend the whole day at a center, and therefore increase the amount of money they spend,” said Julia Langkraehr, managing director of London-based Retail Profile Europe.

Ski slopes are not the only interactive venue proving to be a hit outside the U.S. RTKL has recently helped developers design amusement parks inside shopping centers in Portugal and Japan.

Another hot sport is bowling, which was popular in the 1950s and is seeing a comeback. Lucky Strike Lanes is capitalizing on the trend by trying to make the sport chic. The first two Lucky Strike bowling lanes opened in California in 2003. Fourteen lanes are now in operation, and the company says it plans to open 10 more next year. The bowling alleys, either stand-alone or in malls, take up about 25,000 square feet.

— SB