As department stores continue to die off, with mall landlords are adding this fun feature to attract more visitors and designer stores which want to set up nearby

Department stores are diminishing in the retail space, but landlords are finding success in adding experience-based attractions such as ritzy food halls to bring in visitors.

Sales at department stores fell last year and fell flat in the first five months of 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

One of America's biggest department stores - JCPenney - faced falling sales and announced it is shutting down four locations last week.

Now landlords - like the owners of Legacy West in Plano, Texas - are opting to turn their retail spaces into food halls to attract more customers and designer retailers who want to set up shop.

'We said, "Instead of going after a department store, let's do something that's more fun and more interesting and that will drive a lot of traffic,"' Mark Masinter, a partner on the Legacy West food hall project, told The Wall Street Journal.

Major department stores - such as JCPenney - continue to close as sales fall flat in the first five months of 2024

Now landlords - like the owners of Legacy West (inset) in Plano, Texas - are opting to turn their retail spaces experienced based attractions such as ritzy food halls to bring in visitors

Prism Places, the owners of Legacy West, said since they opened the food hall in 2017 they now draw in 30,000 visitors a week and luxury brands like Louis Vuitton have opened up stores in the space. 

'Young customers aren't shopping at malls and they aren't shopping department stores in the same way they used to,' said Stenn Parton, Prism's chief executive.

The Legacy West food hall offers over two dozen bars and restaurants, live music and a brewery.

Real estate experts predict the future of retail spaces will follow in Legacy Wests footsteps.

'My guess is there will be a lot fewer department stores 10 years from now,' Donald Bouchard, a property appraiser specializing in retail at Lincoln Property Company's Boston office, told The Journal.

Real estate experts predict the future of retail spaces will follow in Legacy Wests footsteps as department stores continue to close

Since the Legacy West food hall (pictured) in 2017 they now draw in 30,000 visitors a week and luxury brands like Louis Vuitton have opened up stores in the space

Earlier this year, Macy's announced plans to close 150 underperforming stores over the next three years, leaving just 350 stores operational by 2026.

According to real-estate firm Green Street major department stores now occupy less than half of all anchor spaces in shopping malls.

In Minnesota, the Burnsville Center was dubbed 'the emptiest mall in the Twin Cities,' according to the StarTribune.

Then in 2022 the dying shopping center was acquired by the Chicago-based Windfall Group, in partnership with Pacifica Burnsville who planned to revitalize the space.

Now, a 13,000 square foot food hall called Ate Ate Ate with nine vendors, a bar and beer wall and an event space is in the first phase of development.