Summer means many things for many people; vacations, BBQs, hanging with friends, endless hours of daylight, endless brunches at cafés, endless glasses of mimosa at said brunches, endless…well you get the point. But for me, as the Managing Editor at the Adspace Digital Mall Network, summer means an audit of our retail database. So, pretty much the same as endless cocktails on sunny cafes with my besties, but without all the calories and tons of data entry!

I’ve worked in the editorial department at Adspace for almost 8 years now and when I saw the job posting all those years ago I was stoked. Applying my real world experience, all those Fridays and Saturdays during my teenage years spent at the mall shopping and cruising for cute boys, I knew I was a perfect fit for the position. Ok, maybe my inner minx didn’t get me the job, but my unrivaled knowledge of the retail landscape of the suburban mall was my ticket in.

Auditing our extensive retail database is by far one of the most tedious (see also: necessary) tasks that I am responsible for every year. We keep a record of every anchor, in-line store, kiosk, restaurant, massage chair, threading station, movie theatre, nail salon, etc. in all of our malls; making note of any closing and openings along the way. With over 200 malls in our network and each mall averaging 150 stores, that’s a lot of information.

Going through the process always gives me pause for reflection about the changing retail landscape. Over the years I’ve seen many of the chains I grew up with shutter their doors and welcomed many new ones that I’ve grown to love. Among the list of closings are Anchor Blue, Borders, Circuit City, Hecht’s, KB Toys, The Sharper Image, Whitehall Jewelers, to name a few.  Some new and notables are Bare Escentuals, Call It Spring, Charming Charlie, Crumbs, Hair Pop, Pandora, p.s. from Aeropostale, and Sephora inside jcpenny. Some have even come and gone during my tenure at Adspace; The Discovery Channel Store, Sony Style, as well as 77 Kids and Martin + Osa from American Eagle.

Amidst this changing retail landscape, mall developers and retailers are constantly finding ways to adapt. Most notable is the recent use of vacant stores as Pop-Up shops, where a retailer or brand takes up temporary lease of a space. I came across a great piece on Huffington Post that addresses the trend and 5 reasons why it’s here to stay. The Pop-Up shop is a great way for retailers to extend their reach, in effect testing how they may do in a market previously untapped. In addition to the Pop-Up shop, mall developers have made use of available lease space by creating virtual store fronts for advertisers and shoppable windows for consumer goods. Both of these solutions incorporate mobile, creating an interactive and fun experience for shoppers in a retail space that would otherwise be sitting empty.

In writing this post and thinking about the changes in retail that I have seen over the years, what occurred to me is that though the stores come and go, the one thing that remains constant is the mall itself and its position as the social and commercial center of our society. The outdoor town squares of long ago have been transformed to the enclosed Towne Centres of today, where people go for shopping, socialization and entertainment. So hopefully at some point this summer I can get away from my desk and all this data, swap a café for a food court and meet my friends for some retail therapy.