Property Type

The economy has constricted consumers’ wallets, but the desire for entertainment has kept them spending…on the right concepts.  Rising prices have made just about everyone conscientious about their spending. That, naturally, includes shoppers.  Dixon Greenwood, principal at Mountain Mile in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, notes 2023 overall tax receipts at the dining, shopping, lodging and entertainment destination are down more than 10 percent from the company’s 2022 numbers. “Now, that’s off some extreme growth during and after COVID, so numbers are still very good, but what it says pretty clearly is people are tightening their purse strings,” he says.  Traffic, on the other hand, is only down 2 percent to 3 percent.  “Fortunately for us, we’re still trending up at our property, but that’s in part because we continued to add additional retailers and experiences last year,” Greenwood continues.  A large part of what’s compelling visitors into shopping centers nowadays is entertainment, especially if prices for goods are lower online. “There has been somewhat of a drop in consumer spending, but entertainment remains a ‘recession-proof’ outlet,” argues David Goldfarb, owner, CEO and founder of entertainment-solutions company PrimeTime Amusements.  Goldfarb is careful to note, however, that recession-proof doesn’t mean bulletproof. After all, …