With the increasing popularity of online shopping, many shopping centers are losing retailers left and right. More unusual tenants are filling in the gaps, like gun ranges and bounce houses.
Unusual tenants are drawing new visitors to old struggling shopping centers. One of the strangest is "The Arms Room," a former Circuit City turned gun shop and shooting range.
Owner of the Arms Room, William James's spent nearly $5 million to buy the 20,000-square-foot space and convert it into a shooting range, a price he considered a bargain compared with building from scratch, according to Kris Hudson and Miguel Bustillo.
Jin Dong, manager of a neighboring mattress store is extremely happy with the new neighbors. "People do come in here with guns, and that's kind of weird. But they have brought a lot of traffic. It's way better than nothing."
Other unusual tenants include an indoor go-carting facility and an indoor trampoline facility.
Read the full story: New Tricks for Old Malls
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello