REGIONAL
SANDY LAKE RD.
GRAPEVINE MILLS PKWY.
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GrapevineMills shows potential formallswith entertainment
BETHEL RD.
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BY SANDRA SADEK
malls across the country that have adapted to o er a more fami- ly-friendly and entertainment-focused experience. Mark Hunter is the managing direc- tor for retail asset services for the Americas at CBRE, a global company in commercial real estate services and investment with o ces in Dallas. According to Hunter, The Mills malls—which include Grapevine Mills and its nationwide counterparts such as Katy Mills and Arizona Mills—were among the rst large shopping cen- ters to add entertainment o erings. Hunter said entertainment o erings can help to extend the length of stay of customers, who may then spend more money during their visit. “[The shopping centers and malls] started o with mega theaters, and that evolved into many other types of entertainment concepts, whether that be skate parks, NASCAR [or] virtual reality,” he said. Hunter said the average length of stay in a mall is about 90 minutes, but when entertainment o erings are added, that average length of stay doubles. Placer.ai data shows visitors to Grapevine Mills stayed an average of 122 minutes in November. About 22% of visitors stayed for more than 150 minutes during that period, and 30% stayed for at least two hours. Trudy Cresswell, the director of marketing and business development at Grapevine Mills, said the mall has been working to expand and empha- sizes continuously bringing in new tenants. “We actually look forward to sharing some more announcements throughout the remainder of [2022],” she said. The volume of foot tra c seen at Grapevine Mills was a factor in attracting global esports and technol- ogy company Vindex. “Grapevine Mills ... speci cally, it’s a very high-tra c mall ... in the North Dallas and the North Texas area where we wanted to have a [presence], and it just made sense to us for those reasons,” said Bob Morris, arenas opening manager for
Among the many tenants at Grape- vine Mills is Steve Zettler’s locally owned and operated business, the Beef Jerky Experience. Zettler has other stores located throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but he said the Grapevine location has been particu- larly successful. “Malls are a little bit risky these days, and most of the stores that we have success [in] are in tourist areas,” Zettler said. “We picked [Grapevine Mills] because the tra c count here was far superior to most of the malls we looked at.” Data from Placer.ai, a company that tracks consumer foot tra c for retail and real estate companies using mobile data, estimated GrapevineMills recorded more than 927,000 visits in November. That number compared with over 855,000 for Stonebriar Cen- tre in Frisco, over 712,000 for Galleria Dallas and about 1 million for North- Park Center during the same month. Beyond the traditional retail o er- ings typically seen in shopping malls, Grapevine Mills’ management has emphasized bringing entertainment and other unique venues to its visitors with the addition of Legoland Discov- ery Center and Sea Life Grapevine Aquarium in 2011 and Peppa Pig World of Play in 2019. Ed Evans, the general manager of Legoland Discovery Center and Sea Life Grapevine Aquarium, said the location of the mall—between Dallas and Fort Worth—and the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s prox- imity were key factors in deciding to bring the respective attractions to Grapevine Mills. “Being that DFW Airport is an international airport, our location de nitely helps us reach those trav- elers across the country and world easier as an excellent day out during their visit to the area,” Evans said. “As we move into the new year, we strongly feel we will continue to see guests from local areas, the region and across the country as travel gets back to normal levels.” Entertainment destination Grapevine Mills is one of many
The Sea Life Grapevine Aquarium is one of several interactive entertainment venues at Grapevine Mills. The venues, which include Fieldhouse USA and Round One Entertainment, among others, drive foot tra c. (Sandra Sadek/Community Impact Newspaper)
Entertainment options can help prolong visits to Grapevine Mills. In November, 30% of visits were two hours or longer. COME TO SHOP, STAY TO PLAY
Minutes spent in Grapevine Mills per visit in November
100K 150K 200K 250K
of visits lasted 150-plus minutes
of visits lasted between 15 and 29 minutes
22%
22%
0 50K
15-29
45-59
75-89
105-119
135-149
30-44
60-74
90-104
120-134
150+
A STANDOUT DEST I NAT I ON
When compared to neighboring shopping centers and similar malls in the metroplex, Grapevine Mills has strong foot tra c.
Stonebriar Centre: 855.6K Galleria Dallas: 712.8K Grapevine Mills: 927.1K NorthPark Center: 1M Number of visits in November:
The Shops at Willow Bend: 263.1K
Music City Mall: 165.2K
Alliance Town Center: 636K Southlake Town Square: 595.3K
The Shops at Highland Village: 303.2K
Town Center Colleyville: 169.5K
SOURCE: PLACER.AI COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
“I feel like the mall would be good to build up and get the clientele base,” Wallace said. “I just want to keep doing malls, and then when I get a stand-alone, then [clients] will be like, ‘Oh it’s the same guy in the mall,’ ‘cause if you notice, every store inside the mall has an outside store, too.”
Belong Gaming Arenas. Dornielle Wallace is the owner of Acai Bowlz, which o ers thick smoothie bowls with various toppings. He relocated his business from Music City Mall in Lewisville to Grapevine Mills in May. Wallace said he has seen increased tra c from the move.
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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