WHITE PLAINS — The Westchester is adding new stores and restaurants, a sign that the mall is heading down the road to recovery with occupancy rates at pre-pandemic levels.
The Westchester has space for 140 shops at its 805,159-square-foot building in White Plains, and while the property's occupancy rate fell to 84.3% in 2020, it has since climbed to 95.5% in 2023 , according to reports released by the Simon Property Group, a real estate investment trust that owns 93 malls and 69 premium outlet shopping centers across 37 states.
Nearly a dozen stores and restaurants — Reformation, Anthropologie, Forward, Garage, Gorjana, Kendra Scott, Marc Jacobs, Rowan and The Work 360 — are slated to open through 2024. A few of the new businesses, including Gregorys Coffee, Hobbs and Journeys, have already opened.
As online retail surges, how do shoppers view The Westchester?
On a Friday morning in July, The Westchester was bustling with shoppers perusing stores and hanging out in the food court.
As a longtime Westchester resident, who visits the mall monthly, Nancy O'Rourke has seen brands come and go over the years, noting that a lot of new stores that replaced her favorites appeared to appeal to younger generations. While she said she's more likely to shop online, she enjoys a visit to The Westchester where she can get a closer look at products.
Reliance on e-commerce shopping is showing signs of tempering as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. In post-pandemic New York, year-over-year sales in retail stores were up by 4.4% as of March 2024 (the second-highest increase in the country) according to the latest Monthly Retail Sales Report published by the Census Bureau.
The Westchester, which opened in 1995, was built on a site that was once occupied by luxury department store B. Altman & Company, the first suburban department store in the country . It was renovated in 2016 with updated mall entrances and signage.
Ranked as the second largest taxpayer in White Plains , The Westchester mall has already contributed about $3.1 million to the city and county tax revenues this year, according to city tax records.
"This is a nice mall and I hope it stays for the customers," O'Rourke said as she sipped a drink at the newly opened Gregorys Coffee, after she returned items purchased online. Gregorys, which opened in June, replaced a former Starbucks location on the R3 level of The Westchester.
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What makes The Westchester attractive for brands looking for retail space?
Luxury brands like Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton call The Westchester home, and notable names are part of what makes the mall such a prime location for retailers and restaurants, according to the mall's general manager Richard Ranges.
While store openings and closures are not uncommon in The Westchester, (the mall added 12 new stores in 2022 and 10 in 2023) recent tenant additions were touted as a sign that the mall remains an attractive retail space option for businesses.
Some brands, including Melissa & Doug, Venchi, Lucid and Hobbs have opted to open their first brick-and-mortar stores at the mall.
“Leasing activity remains strong," Ranges said. "We’ve had significant growth in terms of foot traffic and we see lots of shopping bags and full parking decks during key shopping periods."
"This is always a good sign and indicator of consumer interest and retailer demand in in-person shopping,” he added.
Gregory Zamfotis, founder and CEO of the family-run Gregorys Coffee, said brands at The Westchester were part of what attracted him to expand his Manhattan-based coffee shop to the Lower Hudson Valley. Proximity to public transit as well as high foot traffic were also part of the decision.
"We're thrilled to be there and we hope more and more people will come to visit," Zamfotis said, who went on to note that there is nothing else like The Westchester in the area.
Teresa Marziano, investment sales advisor at Houlihan Lawrence, said demand for retail space in Westchester is selective and consumer preference is shaping the landscape.
She noted factors such as parking, existing tenants and high foot traffic tend to maintain a mall like The Westchester's pricing power when it comes to lease prices.
The Westchester mall, for example, is good at catering to consumers' needs and offering convenient options, Marziano said. She noticed the mall has been attracting new types of tenants, such as medical services providers.
"Once the consumer is there, (the mall will) want to serve different types of needs," Marziano said.
Helu Wang covers development and real estate for The Journal News/lohud and USA Today Network. Reach her at hwang@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: What do retailers look for when it comes to leasing new space? Ask The Westchester mall
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