I think how malls can survive the future is to have a diverse and tasty food court. People have to eat everyday and having place with many options can make a mall become a social destination.
When I was at the food court at Westfield last week it was busy though not packed. This was lunch on a Saturday. The rest of the mall was pretty empty. Stonestown has definitely taken its star.
Great article Adrianna, but you’re overlooking a few other aspects
1. Stonestown has plenty of parking and has easy access near 280. Westfield is difficult to access with all the traffic around it and there is no parking. Transit oriented shopping centers work best when they are near housing so people grab things on the way home and don’t have to lug it on transit.
2. Stonestown has lots of housing with Asian population around it so naturally, the Asian stores and restaurants do well in Westfield has more diverse population, so it would need a different tenant mix to revitalize. Attracting all kinds of ethnic restaurants would definitely help the Westfield drive foot traffic, but they may have to lower rent to compete against neighborhood commercial and low rents into tenderloin. Maybe a dense ethnic food court with low rents and small stalls is an answer.
3. The downtown office vacancy is not helping Westfield. Stonestown being so far away from offices, relies more on the residential neighborhoods as well as San Francisco State University, and so is not affected by the office downturn. As additional SOMA housing projects are completed and in downtown office to housing conversion start happening, this will help Westfield, but it may be too late.
4. Westfield lost one of its anchors Nordstrom. Westfield needs to replace it ASAP with a high traffic anchor. Maybe a Ross, Walmart?
I think how malls can survive the future is to have a diverse and tasty food court. People have to eat everyday and having place with many options can make a mall become a social destination.
When I was at the food court at Westfield last week it was busy though not packed. This was lunch on a Saturday. The rest of the mall was pretty empty. Stonestown has definitely taken its star.
Great article Adrianna, but you’re overlooking a few other aspects
1. Stonestown has plenty of parking and has easy access near 280. Westfield is difficult to access with all the traffic around it and there is no parking. Transit oriented shopping centers work best when they are near housing so people grab things on the way home and don’t have to lug it on transit.
2. Stonestown has lots of housing with Asian population around it so naturally, the Asian stores and restaurants do well in Westfield has more diverse population, so it would need a different tenant mix to revitalize. Attracting all kinds of ethnic restaurants would definitely help the Westfield drive foot traffic, but they may have to lower rent to compete against neighborhood commercial and low rents into tenderloin. Maybe a dense ethnic food court with low rents and small stalls is an answer.
3. The downtown office vacancy is not helping Westfield. Stonestown being so far away from offices, relies more on the residential neighborhoods as well as San Francisco State University, and so is not affected by the office downturn. As additional SOMA housing projects are completed and in downtown office to housing conversion start happening, this will help Westfield, but it may be too late.
4. Westfield lost one of its anchors Nordstrom. Westfield needs to replace it ASAP with a high traffic anchor. Maybe a Ross, Walmart?