One promising new group of tenants for struggling malls are walk-in medical clinics, according to an article on the Bloomberg Businessweek website.
There were 9,400 walk-in clinics in the U.S. in 2013, according to the Urgent Care Association of America, a 20 percent increase since 2009. A little more than a third are located in strip malls and shopping centers.
For mall owners, urgent-care clinics make desirable tenants. Clinics often pay higher rents (about $25 per square foot), have better credit and tend to sign longer-term leases.
The clinics look for retail outlets with high visibility, high traffic patterns, and signage capabilities, an approach known as the Blockbuster strategy, after the video rental company that wound down last January, because its shuttered retail locations often suit the needs of mall clinics, the article said.
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