As shopping habits evolve and online retail grows, many malls are left with underused spaces that can feel empty and uninviting. This underused mall space comes with several economic downsides for property owners and can negatively impact surrounding businesses. Dead space means lost opportunities for foot traffic and sales, and a poor appearance can sway visitors away from other nearby storefronts.

The rise of e-commerce has created challenges for brick-and-mortar stores. Now, malls need to make shopping an experience and become a community hub to compete with the convenience and availability of online shopping. By introducing creative amenities and experiences, mall owners and property managers can transform quiet corners into profitable spaces that keep the mall relevant and thriving.

1. Create an Inclusive Play Area

Inclusive play spaces can transform dead space into a lively, welcoming hub for families. By fostering a sense of belonging and fun, your play area can encourage repeat visits and boost customer loyalty, helping your mall become a community gathering place.

Here’s how playgrounds help increase foot traffic in retail spaces:

• Supporting childhood development: Implementing a play area is an excellent way to attract more families to your shopping center. Play supports development by encouraging exploration, socialization and movement. Various play activities can support brain development, emotional regulation, social skills and physical development. As more people recognize the importance of play for childhood development, incorporating an inclusive and engaging space can be one of the best ways to increase mall foot traffic.
• Inviting kids of all abilities: By designing a play area that accommodates kids of all abilities, you can create an environment where everyone feels safe and valued. Features like sensory-friendly panels, aesthetic and durable safety flooring and interactive play elements ensure kids with diverse needs and abilities can play together. This thoughtful approach demonstrates your social responsibility and can set your mall apart as a community-oriented destination.

• Engaging kids and parents: The benefits of well-designed play spaces extend far beyond inclusivity. For families, they provide an engaging and safe space for kids to burn off energy while parents relax or socialize with other adults nearby. With enjoyable opportunities for kids and parents, families are more likely to increase dwell time, which can translate into more shopping, dining and impulse purchases.

2. Invite Pop-Up Vendors

Inviting pop-up vendors is a dynamic way to activate unused space. This strategy can infuse your mall with energy, variety and a sense of discovery. Pop-up shops are temporary retail spaces for small businesses, online brands and local artisans.

Offering flexible leasing options can be a win-win for businesses and shoppers. For businesses, creating a pop-up shop can help a business owner build brand awareness, reach new customers and test physical retail. For shoppers, pop-ups invite new experiences to make every trip to the mall feel like an exciting adventure.

Flexible leasing options are a key advantage for mall owners and property managers. You can offer short-term agreements ranging from a single weekend to several months. This method allows you to create a steady rotation of vendors and themes while meeting shopper needs.

For example, you could welcome several vendors to rent your space for one week at a time in the summer to create an ongoing, dynamic-feeling festival. When the weather starts cooling, you could rent your space to a holiday-themed business to host a holiday gift market. Either way, you can rotate themes to keep your mall experience fresh and encourage shoppers to keep coming back to discover what’s new.

3. Offer Family Fitness

Offering family fitness options is an excellent way to turn quiet corridors or empty storefronts into lively centers of activity and wellness. The health benefits are clear — regular physical exercise improves overall well-being and fosters healthy habits for everyone involved. Introducing a variety of fitness options, like yoga classes, indoor walking tracks, dance studios or family-friendly challenges, can attract a broader audience and create a greater sense of community within your mall.

You can also partner with local gyms, wellness brands and personal trainers to enhance your offerings. For example, you could collaborate with a nutrition brand to host a workshop about healthy snacks and family dinner ideas. These collaborations can bring a touch of professional expertise and cross-promote your mall and your fitness partners to expand reach and credibility for both businesses.

To maximize engagement, you can also integrate fitness activities with promotions or loyalty programs. For instance, encourage shoppers to participate in fitness classes to earn discounts or reward points for partnering stores. This strategy encourages fitness participation and can drive traffic to other parts of your mall for total space revitalization.

4. Host Seasonal Events

Offering family-friendly activities and hosting seasonal events are great ways to increase mall foot traffic. These events create community excitement and encourage social media sharing and word-of-mouth recommendations. Each event is also an opportunity to welcome a new audience to your mall. Consider these seasonal events:

• Holiday markets: During the colder months, turn your unused space into a winter wonderland by filling the corridors with specialty foods, unique gifts and local artisans. Create a magical atmosphere with twinkling lights, visits from Santa and live music. Your market can support small businesses and make your mall a go-to destination for holiday shopping and entertainment.
• Halloween haunts: Turn your dead space into an undead space with Halloween haunts. Create a walk-through haunted house experience, encourage trick-or-treaters to stop by for candy or transform your empty storefront into a costume competition. These events can generate buzz on social media and provide a weatherproof alternative to traditional outdoor festivities.
• Summer festivals: Bring life to slow months by hosting a summer festival. Blend strategies by inviting pop-up shops, welcoming live performers or hosting food competitions. Create a sense of celebration and give your community a reason to visit the mall beyond shopping.
• Back-to-school fairs: Attract growing families each year with back-to-school fairs. Host school supplies drives, conduct interactive workshops for students and parents or put on a fashion show to highlight new arrivals in your mall. Partner with local schools and organizations to boost attendance and foster community goodwill.

5. Implement an Art Gallery

Transform an empty unit into an art gallery for local artists and or student work. Dedicating space to the arts allows mall owners and property managers to breathe new life into underused areas while fostering cultural enrichment and community engagement.

A key advantage of this strategy is the ability to rotate exhibits. You can regularly change the featured artists and themes to keep your gallery fresh and interesting. This dynamic approach encourages shoppers to visit time and time again to see the newest collections. You can create more excitement by hosting events for shoppers to meet a featured artist or participate in a paint-and-sip activity to replicate your prized pieces.

Add another layer of intrigue by implementing interactive installations and live art demonstrations. Visitors can participate in collaborative murals, digital art experiences or hands-on workshops to make your gallery a destination for creativity and learning. Live painting sessions or sculpture demonstrations allow guests to witness the artistic process firsthand or create their own masterpiece.

6. Provide a Doggy Day Care

There’s a growing demand for pet services, and for families with limited pet care options, a doggy day care is the perfect way to encourage family fun and repeat visits to your mall. Many people consider their pets to be an integral part of the family unit. Offering convenient, high-quality pet care can encourage more families to visit your mall and make their pets part of the shopping experience.

The convenience of dropping off a pet while shoppers browse, dine or run errands is a significant benefit for many. Pet owners can enjoy peace of mind while crossing items off their to-do lists, knowing their pet is in a safe and stimulating environment. Malls can also benefit by making it easier for pet owners to increase dwell time and stand out from competitors by offering a unique selling point.

Well-designed doggy day cares can include a variety of features to attract customers. Spacious play areas allow dogs to exercise and socialize, while separate zones for small and large breeds ensure comfort and safety for all. Additional services like grooming and obedience training can make your doggy day care a one-stop shop. You could also consider hosting pet adoption events in partnership with local shelters to further attract animal lovers and families.

7. Make an Indoor Garden

Transform your dead space into a lively, green oasis with plants and natural lighting. Adding a green space can deliver dramatic aesthetic enhancements, offer environmental benefits and promote community health and well-being. Shoppers can enjoy your tranquil environment, which encourages relaxation and a retreat from the hustle and bustle of busy mall environments.

You can also integrate profitable opportunities through:

• Ticket purchases or donations: Many indoor gardens are free to enter, but you can ask visitors to donate to show their support for your green space. You could also consider hosting after-hours events that charge an entrance price or membership fee. For example, you could make a seasonal floral display at a ticketed event.
• Café food and drinks: Encourage visitors to unwind with their favorite coffee blend or a tasty treat as they admire your greenery. Integrate a café or juice bar within or adjacent to your garden. You can offer garden-inspired items, like herbal teas and plant-based treats, to enhance the thematic connection. Consider creating a reading nook with comfortable seating to encourage repeat visits and longer dwell time.
• Wellness events: Promote wellness by hosting meditation classes or gardening workshops. Encourage families to participate in group yoga classes, conduct mindfulness workshops or offer special events like aromatherapy nights and plant care seminars. Schedule these types of events regularly to build a loyal community around your garden space.

8. Welcome Nonprofits and Charities

Secure your mall as a community hub by offering affordable or free space to local nonprofits and charities looking to host events, fundraise or set up offices. Providing affordable or complementary space to organizations with a social mission can empower mall owners to transform quiet spaces into centers of positive activity and engagement.

One of the most significant benefits of this strategy is boosting community goodwill. When a mall supports local causes, whether by hosting a blood drive, food bank distribution or educational workshop, it demonstrates commitment to the community’s well-being. This can foster a sense of trust and loyalty among shoppers and increase mall foot traffic and customer dwell time.

Nonprofits and charities may draw people to your mall that may not otherwise have a reason to visit, such as volunteers, donors and families seeking resources. For example, a blood drive could bring in dozens of donors in a single day. These donors may use their visit as an opportunity to explore offerings, grab a few essentials or treat themselves to a dining experience.

9. Craft an Immersive Environment

Your underused mall areas are a great opportunity to attract groups, families and young adults seeking unique entertainment. Creating an immersive environment is one of the best ways to attract shoppers to your door and compete with e-commerce competition. These experiences go far beyond traditional shopping, transforming your mall into a destination for adventure and social connection. Consider these experiences:

• Themed play environments: Custom themed play spaces enable kids to step into a world of imagination and wonder. Design play areas around popular stories, fantasy worlds or local culture. Implement plant and animal sculptures to create visual depth, use entryway arches to create an engaging spatial transition and use signage to create branded signs that embrace your playground theme.

• Immersive escape rooms: Escape rooms have become a popular entertainment activity. Your mall can partner with escape room companies to install permanent or rotating themed puzzle rooms for large or small groups. Create sci-fi quests, mystery adventures or whimsical experiences that support family fun, friendly competition or even corporate team-building.
• Virtual reality experiences: Offer cutting-edge entertainment that appeals to teens and young adults by implementing virtual reality arcades and pop-up VR attractions. These immersive experiences allow guests to participate in VR sports, play multiplayer games and explore virtual worlds. You can ticket these experiences by the hour and partner with VR companies to keep content fresh and exciting.
• Interactive exhibits: From art installations that respond to movement and sound to science exhibits with hands-on experiences, there are tons of ways to incorporate interactive exhibits to invite visitors to engage with their environment. Rotate your exhibits to encourage repeat visits, and collaborate with local museums, artists and tech companies to bring in new audiences and generate buzz.

10. Conduct Fun Workshops

Workshops are a great way to encourage repeat visits to your retail location. Engaging, hands-on workshops can attract a diverse audience and give visitors a reason to keep coming back. Consider offering workshops like:

• Cooking classes: Cooking classes are a popular workshop idea that appeals to food lovers of all ages. Whether it’s baking bread, making sushi or learning quick weeknight meals, these classes provide practical skills and a social environment. Visitors often come back for new recipes and themed sessions, and they may shop for ingredients or kitchenware after the class to boost sales.
• DIY crafts: Crafts like jewelry making and pottery are fun and engaging. These classes let you tap into the growing interest in handmade goods while encouraging creative expression. You could also consider paint-and-sip events or seasonal craft making, catering each session to kids, adults or families.
• Tech tutorials: Attract tech-savvy shoppers with tech tutorials like smartphone photography, digital art making or coding. As technologies evolve and new models come to market, you’ll have tons of opportunities to encourage ongoing participation.
• Language lessons: Welcome travelers, students and anyone interested in cultural enrichment with language lessons. Implement short, interactive classes or create conversation groups to make your mall a go-to spot for personal growth.

Find Engaging Ways to Increase Foot Traffic in Retail Spaces

Soft Play® has over 40 years of experience reimagining play. We help businesses and property managers design inclusive and engaging spaces that support development and creativity. If you have underused mall space, partner with us to create a play area that supports your community. We can work with you to design an indoor play space that fits your space and budget. Tell us about your project to get started.