Shopping Malls’ New Product: Fun
Many U.S. malls are experimenting with entertainment-focused tenants
Go-kart racing, indoor rope climbing and laser tag aren’t activities typically associated with back-to-school shopping, but that is what some shoppers at a Syracuse, N.Y., mall are doing.
Entertainment offerings at malls have generally been limited to dining and maybe a multiscreen movie theater alongside the main draw of traditional retailers. But many U.S. malls, like Syracuse’s Destiny USA, are experimenting with entertainment-focused tenants more likely to be found in an amusement park than a shopping center.
Among the newcomers: high-tech golf driving ranges, skydiving simulators and “escape rooms,” in which players are locked and challenged to find a way out by looking for clues and solving riddles.
