For some time shopping malls have been in crisis. The number of people attending malls was diminishing even before the pandemic, but since then malls have been struggling more than ever before.
Not everyone is seeing the nail in the coffin however. Mall owners and management teams with initiative are coming up with creative ways to revive and reinvigorate the shopping mall experience, bringing in new retail and anchor tenants and customers alike.
Architectural rendering is one of the innovative new ways mall owners are using to attract new tenants!
3D renderings can give a feeling of dynamic new life to an otherwise empty mall through the use of elements like moving people, waterfalls and greenery
How to Revive a Shopping Mall and Boost Your Tenants Creatively
Malls are definitely not what they used to be when the first one was built in 1956.
Mall owners trying to revive their properties are getting increasingly creative and bringing in tenants that really break the mold! For example, in place of big box stores, owners and management teams are increasingly seeking out different types of commercial clients, from post offices to doctors, dentists and other health practitioners, from microwarehouses to cater to the rising trend of online shopping and even entire schools!
Other malls are branding themselves towards a specific niche, reinventing themselves as hubs for health and wellness, or as centers focused primarily on food and eateries.
“Traditionally we kept our shopping separate from our living from our recreation,” said Amanda Nicholson, a professor of retail practice at Syracuse University. “That’s not what the world wants anymore. Malls need to be more creative about getting people outside their homes — it can’t just be stores, stores and more stores." Source
More and more empty malls are aiming to attract luxury, high-end brands and amenities that clients will use daily like gyms, restaurants and spas. These types of client are perfect for enticing through the use of creative 3D renderings!
Give luxury brands the choice of venues for their store and help them see how people will interact with their shopfront
Shopping Mall Leasing – How to Find More Retail Tenants For Empty Properties
When you’re trying to teach someone a new skill, it’s often suggested to show, not tell. The same can be said for trying to lease more empty spaces in a shopping mall!
It can be hard for store or franchise owners to envisage how their brands will look in a particular space in a mall and this is where 3D rendering really shines. In the following images you can see how a recent client of ours had us render her shopping mall in Canada as it could be rather than as it currently is. By utilizing 3D renderings to show potential clients what their store would look like in the currently empty space, she aims to entice new tenants in a dynamic and proactive way.
Going the extra mile like this when approaching potential clients can really help them engage and invest emotionally in the idea, which can get you much closer to signing contracts and seeing them move in!
Imagine how much stronger the impression will be if you show them what their presence in your mall would actually look like, compared to just showing them an empty property with sad-looking “vacant” signs. You could also use floor plan rendering to show shoppers exactly where all the shops are in your mall.
Click on the images below to view the full large versions in a lightbox.
One of The Best New Ways to Find New Tenants for Empty Shopping Malls?
This marketing approach has many different possible applications including:
Displaying how pop up shops or boutiques will look and work within established malls
Showing a potential client what their chosen shopfront would look like with others around it (that might currently be empty)
Helping restaurants or gyms visualize thoroughfares and how passersby could interact with them
Showing potential retail tenants how the inside or outside of the mall is going to be revamped in the near future after renovations
Your imagination is the limit in terms of what we can visualize for you in 3D renderings.
Shopping Mall Marketing Ideas
Using 3D renderings to entice retail or anchor tenants to your mall is just the beginning. To help your mall flourish, 3D renders can also be used in mall marketing materials to attract visitors and shoppers.
You could for example use renderings of exciting upcoming shops or exhibitions in flyers or mail-drops in your local area to get people excited about coming back to your mall if it’s been awhile since they’ve visited.
You could also use interactive 3d animations or even a 360 vr house tour on your website to help people navigate around the mall and quickly find the shops they’re looking for, or to spark interest for upcoming developments.
How do you attract retail or Anchor tenants?
How do you plan to attract retail tenants to fill the empty shopfronts in your mall into the future?
Given the current glut of empty mall, shopping center and retail space around North America at the moment, will the old outreach and relationship building methods of attracting new retail, commercial or anchor tenants still work? Or will you need to do something to stand head and shoulders above the competition?
When just a single large retail or anchor tenant can be worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to the right mall management or owner, adding the cost of 3D renderings to your marketing budget makes absolute sense and the return on your investment can potentially be mind-blowing.
If you would like to add 3D renderings to your mall marketing plan give us a call on 1-877-350-3490 to speak to one of our team instantly, or send us a quote request if you’d rather we get back to you via email. We’ll respond in 5 - 10 minutes - we’d love to work with you to help further your mall’s success.
Alex Smith
Manager & Co-Owner Render 3D Quick
Alex Smith is a manager and co-owner at Render3DQuick, with over 6 years’ experience project managing their large team of 3D rendering professionals. Alex is obsessed with architecture and is a CAD design specialist in his own right and an expert in the field of architectural visualization, 3D rendering, and virtual reality tours.
As the first point of contact when you get in touch with Render3DQuick, Alex loves sharing his knowledge and answering any questions you may have about architectural visualization or the latest technologies and techniques they utilize.
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn here.