Department store anchors, many with high-profile reductions of their physical footprints (notably Macy’s and Sears), are leaving gaping holes in many malls, but they’re not necessarily landlords’ biggest problem, according to Green Street’s research.
As department stores have struggled to adapt to changing shopper behavior — both the gravitation to e-commerce and their migration to specialty, off-price and big-box retailers — many have shuttered underperforming locations in lower-quality malls.