Open-air shopping centers — also known as strip malls and strip centers — are leading retail’s real estate recovery and building on momentum seen before the pandemic.
Landlords filled 17 million square feet of open-air shopping centers during the third quarter, according to CBRE data reported by The Wall Street Journal. The influx marks a 49 percent hike from 2019 and a 10-year high for net absorption.
JLL’s “Retail Recovery” study likewise found strip centers leading the bounce back in rents and vacancy. JLL wrote in the report, “Open-air centers, particularly those with essential tenants like grocery and drug stores, have performed consistently better since 2020. Malls, already faltering prior to COVID, especially B and C malls, saw an accelerated performance decline.”
