Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin By Benjamin Raziel
LOS ANGELES — For the past two decades, the rise of e-commerce, shifting consumer behavior, and a lack of strategic repositioning have led to the steady decline of the American mall. Dwindling brick-and-mortar profits, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in a wave of cutbacks and downsizing across the country that cast the future of the American mall in doubt. But Tyler Mateen, founder and CEO of Cannon TTM, believes the mall isn’t dead yet and could be revitalized with the right strategy and investments. With a change in direction, malls can still bring droves of shoppers back to the in-person retail experience — and this change has already started at the HHLA mall in Los Angeles.
“The current version of the American mall is failing, but it doesn’t have to,” said Mateen. “Similar to how the Sherman Oaks Galleria underwent a significant transformation in the early 2000s that reshaped the concept of the mall from a traditional, enclosed space to an open-air lifestyle center complete with integrated office spaces, restaurants, a gym, and multiplex cinema, malls today can evolve by focusing on changing the image and function of the mall through revolutionary shopping, entertainment and dining experiences. There is still plenty of opportunity for the American mall to become the community’s all-in-one hub again.”
Tyler Mateen’s company bought the HHLA mall, formerly The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, for about $80M in 2023, and has already attracted tenants that Mateen said will help reimagine the mall as the go-to entertainment and lifestyle destination in Los Angeles.
