Marketplace · Monday, September 28, 2026
Contrary to past reports of their demise, American malls are experiencing a revival, with their values now outperforming all other commercial property categories. This comeback is attributed to malls successfully fulfilling their role as retail and entertainment destinations, attracting shoppers and retailers alike. High-end malls with luxury stores, popular dining options, and significant owner investment in upkeep are seeing the most success, offering experiences not replicable online.
“Well, investors are increasingly convinced that malls might be here to stay. And this is first and foremost because malls are simply doing the job of of being malls. People are continuing to go to malls. Retailers are opening stores in malls and making money. And as a result, mall values are increasing and people are more willing to buy malls or invest in stakes in malls.”
“We see the most success at the very high-end malls. These are properties that have luxury stores, maybe really popular restaurants, um, with long waitlists, in usually affluent areas, um, and where the owners have invested a lot of money in keeping up the property. So it it's not a tired-looking mall. It it still looks fancy.”
“So, um, malls like all retail are certainly looking to insulate themselves as much as possible from online shopping. So they need to offer experiences that people can't get online. So that's where you see a lot more restaurants, entertainment, um, like bands, performances, even. Influencers will come to malls and partner with retailers or do just kind of meet and greets in malls. So it's it's a whole other ball game now.”
“Right. Um, mall values are still far off their peaks that we saw about a decade ago. And one of the reasons that the malls that remain today are doing so well is because there have been about 2,000 mall closures. So, um, that of course strengthens the remaining operators when there's less competition.”