As Gen Alpha searches for IRL, offline experiences, mall owners are encouraging young people to come back, hang out and shop till they drop.
Despite growing up with iPads in their strollers, these kids — born from around 2010 on — are so over-pixelated that they crave in-person social interactions. That’s why malls are now stepping up and providing their youngest shoppers with stores and experiences that do just that.
“Malls are making a comeback and it’s a younger audience that is doing it,” said R.J. Hottovy of Placer.ai, which tracks visits. “It’s a third place that is away from home and office, and instead of just shopping, it is becoming a place for experiences — and hanging out.”
The reinvention of malls across America has not skipped over the metro area. The Macerich Company — which has 38 million square feet around the country, hosting 4,300 different brands and tenants — is busy updating its New York holdings. Both the Kings Plaza and Green Acres malls in Valley Stream, as well as the Queens Center, where Primark opened in 2024, are being refreshed for a new generation.
“It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle and you can change the retailers,” said Kurt Ivey of Macerich who said hundreds are changed out each year. “It keeps the mall interesting, engaging and dynamic.”
At Greenacres, they are reimagining 400,000 square feet after tearing down a Sears and a parking garage, while adding a grocer, Quick Service Restaurants, and retailers like JD Sports and Foot Locker.
“Consumers are really starting to come back to malls, fueled by Gen Z making a return to malls and physical purchases,” said Ivey.
Macerich is updating and adding visual elements including artwork and statues to make the centers more Instagrammable as these new mall rats take pictures of everything, from the food to merchandise.
In September, a pregnant Cardi B. held her album release party for “Am I the Drama?” at the Hot Topic at Queens Center. Ivey said Cardi B. chose the spot because it feels like a suburban mall and has a large youth demographic.
Tweens, used to being schlepped to malls in strollers, are now the biggest fans of shopping centers.
Related’s Esty Ottensoser, who focuses on the Shops at Columbus Circle, said her 8-year-old daughter thinks she has the coolest job in the world since she and her friends love hanging out in malls.
“They are being engaged online on social media and then want this very high touch experience that is happening in real time in a physical space,” Ottensoser said of both Gen Z and Gen Alpha. “They are learning about that J.Crew cream sweater, and then are coming into our center, shopping in J.Crew, shopping elsewhere, and hanging out with friends. And really using it as a third space.”
One upcoming store, Brooklyn’s PowerHouse Books, will have in-person readings that are expected to be popular. The center’s Bad Roman Italian restaurant went viral over its unique lemon mousse cheesecake served inside two yellow-chocolate lemons — and now does upwards of $20 million a year.
“They know what they want, learn about it online and then come to shop in person for their experience,” Ottensoser said of the kids.
To keep shoppers in malls longer, Related is creating programming, activations and experiences — including performances by Broadway stars — that are highly engaging. “Come hang out, get Starbucks, go shopping,” said Ottensoser. “It’s working.”
Related is always upgrading and adding stores with leases just signed for a new Aritzia flagship and Madewell along with a Royal Café tea kiosk that will open in May.
Experts said some of the hottest tenants now include the updated Gap along with Coach, which is concentrating on Gen Z product lines.
Downtown, the Oculus, owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, is welcoming Calzedonia this spring with Uniqlo opening in the fall. Stores that include Pop Mart, Pandora and Rebag already cater to a younger audience. The Oculus also expects that Chick-fil-A, opening soon, will be a big hit with the Gen Z audience, while Fogo de Chão opened last summer and continues to be popular with that same demographic.
“Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren’t just shopping — they want culture, connection and experiences you can’t get online,” said Colin Shaughnessy, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield US executive vice president of leasing. “That’s why we focus on bold, social-first activations and partnerships with brands like E.L.F. Beauty; Tyler, the Creator; and Netflix — creating buzz, discovery and reasons to keep coming back to the Oculus.”
“Malls are making a comeback and it’s a younger audience.”
R.J. Hottovy of Placer.ai
In a new report, “How Malls Can Win in 2026,” Placer.ai found shoppers all over America are either staying longer — upwards of 75 minutes — or making under-30-minute quick trips, “underscoring malls’ growing role as convenient, high-utility destinations for picking up an online order, grabbing a quick bite or making a targeted purchase.”
But, the Placer.ai report concluded, “The malls that thrive will be those that clearly define their role in their customers’ lives and execute against it with intention — whether by decisively optimizing for efficiency, fully investing in experience or thoughtfully integrating both.”
Hottovy of Placer.ai said they are seeing a shift in the tenant mixes with more food and dining options as well as fitness and experiential venues.
For brands, the report explained, “it means high-impact access to Gen Z consumers in discovery mode — top-of-funnel engagement that is increasingly difficult and expensive to replicate through digital channels alone.”
Some of the up-and-coming brands focused on interactivity are also taking up tons of space. Macerich is bringing the interactive Level99 to its mall in Tysons Corner in Maryland but, so far, not to this metro area. Designed for adults and teams of two to six players, Level99 includes 50 interactive and Instagrammable games that are accessed with wristbands.
Other large concepts are coming closer to home.
The Shops at Skyview in Flushing was purchased in January for $407.5 million by Texas-based TPG and Acadia Realty Trust of Rye, NY, after the previous owners leased large swaths to other experiential tenants.
Soon to open at Skyview are Bowling & Arcade Round1 — a 80,240-square-foot amusement filled space with bowling, arcades and claw machines; a 49,733-square-foot Sky Zone trampoline park; and a 23,946-square-foot Jongro BBQ, a Korean food concept, already a Manhattan favorite.
In Rockland County, NY, the Palisades Center in West Nyack was valued at $881 million in 2016. Now, a decade later, the 2.3 million-square-foot mall was acquired in a foreclosure in February for just $175 million. New owners, Black Diamond Capital Management, said it will keep on the Spinoso Real Estate Group, which has been stabilizing the center since 2024. The goal? Bring it back to life.
Nearby, Joseph Farkas of Metropolitan Realty Associates, is more cautious and just leased 35,000 square feet to Best Buy at his strip center in Nyack where they will move from the Palisades Center. “We look for tenants that we think have longevity, and we’re not trying to test out tenants that might make it or don’t make it,” said Farkas. “There’s a heavy price to pay to put a tenant in space.”
Farkas says malls are based on a 70-year-old business model that has been forced to change. Now, where local governments allow, malls are adding residential spaces — especially for childless senior citizens who want the town-like walkability and don’t use local schools — as well as hotels, medical facilities and fitness centers.
“The major anchors of those malls, the department stores, have gone out of business, with the exception of one or two, which have downsized dramatically,” Farkas said. “You can reposition them, but an 800,000-square-foot mall is impossible to backfill.”
