By Kennedy Zak | July 28, 2025 | As published by Los Angeles Business Journal
The rise in popularity of the outdoor shopping mall has been building consistently over the last decade or so, and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic further solidified its position at the top.
As the world began to go out again, many were still cautious, opting for open spaces. Thus, outdoor shopping malls had the upper hand in recovering from the pandemic because people felt safer venturing out in the open air versus an indoor mall.
Outdoor retail has inherent appeal – especially with Los Angeles’ climate – which helps set up these centers for success, although it isn’t guaranteed.
If a shopping center becomes outdated and doesn’t have the right mix of “modern, relevant” tenants in terms of retail but also experiential and dining, Megan Martindale, a retail professional at Avison Young, said their fate can be doomed.
“It’s not just about driving foot traffic and visits. It’s also about building that loyalty and that frequency,” Martindale said, especially in a competitive retail giant like Los Angeles.
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Indoor, on the other hand, remains challenged
Indoor shopping malls must work much harder to maintain a place in today’s retail landscape. In Los Angeles, this is particularly important as the promise of annual, walkable temperatures lures consumers to outdoor retail.
Starting about 15 years ago, the tried-and-true formula indoor malls clung to – a department store anchor tenant, an array of quick-grab food options, a movie theater and some supplemental retailers – stopped being enough.
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“There’s a lot that goes into that from an investment and capital standpoint and… whether an owner of a mall has the capital to keep relevant is a big piece,” she said. “It doesn’t happen for free.”
Los Cerritos Center, which implemented a very similar strategy as Beverly Center, is another revitalization success, said Vicky Hammond, a managing principal at Coreland Companies.
“Indoor malls have become somewhat a thing of the past, but part of the problem is that we’ve largely been over retailed… But there is a good handful, like Los Cerritos, who have done a really nice job of investing and redeveloping aspects of them,” Hammond said.
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Grocery-anchored centers depend on brand
The first widely recognized grocery store in the U.S. appeared in 1930, changing the landscape of what used to be a collection of specific markets to one supermarket.
For nearly a century, a trip to the grocery has had many faces, adapting to changes in consumer behavior, weaving in experiential elements and spinning into high-end, specialty and discount models.
Now, in the Los Angeles retail landscape which has been struggling with vacancies, experts in the field see grocery-anchored retail centers as the darlings of the sector – though specific strategies must be deployed to ensure success.
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