Shopping malls taking on non-traditional tenants to fill vacancies

Tampa, Florida -- Bay area shopping malls are turning to retailers they once shied away from to deal with vacancy rates.  

Traditionally, when you think of shopping malls you usually think about stores like Macy's, Dillards, and Sears, but now shopping centers like Westfield's Brandon Mall are starting to recruit a different kind of tenant.

"This is not your grandmother's mall anymore, absolutely not. We want to have an offering that appeals to all different ages, all different interests, and we're going to be able to do that by filling these spaces with unique and different uses," said Laurie Goldman, General Manager at Brandon Mall.

Atomic Tattoos will open at the Brandon Mall around Thanksgiving and the company is planning to open more locations in other malls. "Westfield-Brandon Town Center is our first location that's going to be in a high-end shopping mall destination. We have three or four other properties that are currently in different stages of development from lease-hold negotiation to actual build-out," said Steve Cannon, co-owner of Atomic Tattoos.

Another non-traditional store that's set up shop at the town center is the "As Seen on TV" store, which is targeting shopping malls to increase exposure of its brand. "The visibility aspect, we felt like it would be best to attract the most people," said Sandy McCereery, co-owner of the As Seen on TV store in the Brandon Mall.

Harold Knight likes the idea of malls attracting non-traditional stores. He likes the concept of one-stop shopping. "You're not driving three miles up and down the road to find a Sears and Roebuck and then driving to get to a store like this "As Seen on TV," said Harold Knight.

Retailers like "White Now," which is located in the Westshore Mall and offers teeth whitening on the spot, and the Venus Mini Med Spa in the International Mall, which offers Botox and Collagen injections, are starting to change the shopping mall landscape around the area.

The vacancy rate at shopping malls around the Tampa Bay area is 3.9 percent.