Of the 8 types of retail shopping centers, community centers come in the most shapes and sizes.Ĭommunity center anchors include grocery stores, super drugstores, discount department stores, and in certain markets, home improvement stores. With a broader focus, the community center draws customers from a primary trade are of 3 to 6 miles. They normally offer 100,000 to 300,000 square feet of retail space featuring two anchor stores. One third of neighborhood centers have drugstore anchors.Ĭommunity centers are larger versions of neighborhood centers characterized by a wider range of retail stores. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, over 50% of neighborhood centers are anchored by a grocery store. Neighborhood center retailers mainly offer day to day needs including groceries, convenience items, personal services, snacks, pharmaceuticals, and other health related items.The most common anchor of the neighborhood center is a grocery store. Their name is derived from their small “neighborhood” centric primary trade area of 3 miles. These properties use the outdoor straight line strip configuration, typically feature 1 anchor store, and generally range from 30,000 to 150,000 square feet.

The most common type of shopping center is the appropriately named neighborhood center. Click on one of the 8 types of retail shopping centers to learn more about it: Defining characteristics of each include the number of anchor stores, types of anchors, square footage, and the primary trade area where they draw customers. Both configurations include on-site parking for shoppers.īased on these two traditional configurations, there are 8 different types of retail shopping centers. Retail storefronts are connected by common walkways and usually configured in a straight line, L, or U shaped layout.

Strip centers do not include enclosed hallways. Malls are defined as enclosed properties with a central walkway where retail storefronts face one another. Shopping Center Configurations: Malls vs. Retail shopping centers are typically configured as malls or strip centers.

A retail shopping center is defined as a group of retail and other commercial establishments that is planned, developed, owned, and managed as a single property with on-site parking. A small strip of 5 or 6 stores would also be acceptable example of a retail shopping center.Īll of these answers are correct because the definition of a retail shopping center is incredibly broad. If someone described an indoor shopping destination with multiple large anchor stores, they would also be correct. If someone described a shopping center as a strip mall with a grocery store, they would be correct. If you asked five people to describe a shopping center, chances are you would end up with at least 2 or 3 widely varying answers.

Shopping center building