Carol Spieckerman's Brain On ... The Pall of the Mall

In her latest contribution as a Retail Wire panelist, Carol sounds off on the fate of shopping centers and proposes a cure for the cavernous cubes left behind when big boxes bail out.

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Here's what she had to say ... The downsizing of big boxes and the slow-but-steady expiration of long-term mall leases presents a big opportunity for malls to reinvent space. When it was announced that Bloomingdale's was departing the Mall of America, I posited that sub-dividing the space would make sense (especially since the list of potential non-tenant takers was sitting at zero). Lo and behold, that's exactly what is going to happen -- five to-be-announced retailers are set to move in at a cost of $30 million. Two are said to be major international fast-fashion retailers which I see as a move in the right direction. Sub divide cavernous spaces, give it to those who would otherwise show their wares in major urban flagship locations, pull from across the pond, and repeat.