The business of malls

7/2/2025

Popularity and ease of access have made online retailers increasingly attractive for shoppers. According to Shopify, an e-commerce site where businesses can sell their products, global e-commerce sales are forecast to grow from $5.13 trillion in 2022 to $8.09 trillion by 2028. That’s a lot of money, and a good portion of it was originally spent in traditional retail outlets, like shopping malls.

That, among other factors, has caused a major upheaval in what the shopping mall scene looks like in the Des Moines metro and everywhere. Here locally, stalwarts like Merle Hay Mall and Southridge Mall are taking major steps to revitalize their plots to bring people back in. What was once the new kid on the block, Jordan Creek Mall, is now more than 20 years old but still finding success. The Outlets of Des Moines offers shoppers a different experience than a traditional shopping mall. Each faces its own challenges when it comes to operations, bringing people in and improvements. 

 

Central Iowa’s malls

Merle Hay Mall is the oldest of the malls we covered in this story. The west side shopping center originally opened as Merle Hay Plaza in 1959. It became Merle Hay Mall, as we know it, in 1972. The mall is currently operated by Liz Holland, a third-generation Des Moines business owner and granddaughter of its builder. 

Southridge Mall has served the southside of Des Moines since its inception in 1975. It has seen a major change recently. Travis Mansfield runs Nativebid-Des Moines and purchased 14 parcels, just more than 80 acres, for $4 million in December 2024. He now takes on the challenge of bringing the once bustling shopping mall back to its former glory.

Jordan Creek Mall opened in 2004. It was once the new, shiny, exciting shopping district. Now, it is a fully established player in the West Des Moines economic scene. The mall’s senior general manager, Randy Tennison, has overseen all of that development in his 20 years with the operation.

The Outlets of Des Moines operate as it is named — an outlet mall. Outlet malls are not a new idea or concept, but central Iowa was lacking one. General Manager TJ Just shares its story and role as a retail hub. 

 

Day-to-day operations

Each of these malls has its way of getting people in the doors and making sure things run smoothly. At the present, how these malls operate varies greatly. Jordan Creek and The Outlets are mainly focused on general operations. Merle Hay and Southridge are both in the midst of major revitalization plans.

“The thing I love about my job is you’re almost like the mayor of a small town. You have security, housekeeping, a leasing department, accounting department, finance department, operations,” Tennison said. “There’s a lot of things that we do to make sure that our customers, number one, feel safe, feel secure, and feel like we’re as clean of a shopping center as you possibly can be when you have 200,000 people a day coming in.”

The Outlets has more than 60 retailers at its location with more than 300 part-time and full-time associates employed by the businesses that make up this shopping destination. 

Holland with Merle Hay Mall also works with her various departments when it comes to security, leasing and general mall upkeep. At the same time, the mall is going through major changes with an arena expected to start construction soon. Original talks to become the home of the Des Moines Buccaneers fell through, but a recent revitalization plan approval from the Urbandale City Council has opened the doors for the space to be used for much more. 

“We have systematically vacated those spaces (on the western third of Merle Hay) so that once the arena project starts construction, we can lease up those spaces to the right tenants for that use. We’re really hoping to be the home of Drake Hockey. We’re hoping to be the home of the Iowa Demon Hawks. We’re hoping to have a big volleyball league and training facility there,” Holland said.

At Southridge, Mansfield is focusing on keeping his current tenants happy, quickly refilling empty stores on the exterior part of the mall. From what he was able to find, the mall was still in good enough shape for him to move with the purchase.

“We had spent a lot of time inside of the mall in all parts of it, the good and the bad. The mall had to have a structural survey done on the interior that was under a bad roof, for them not to be deemed a nuisance and thereby have to close completely. They had to deliver this survey report, and, from that report, we knew that the bones of the mall were good. Yes, a roof had to be replaced, and some of the drywall and ceiling was going to have to be replaced, but that was something we could overcome,” Mansfield said.

 

How malls fill spaces

Each of the malls has its own way of filling spaces. From the location of the mall itself to how many people come through the doors each day, businesses weigh many options when determining a location to set up shop at. For the mall managers, deciding what stores should come into the mall is equally important.

According to Tennison, and most any shopper walking around Jordan Creek, the West Des Moines mall is at 99% capacity for its business space. That gives them the flexibility to look at the options they currently have for shoppers and be able to better choose to fill a spot when one opens up.

“We ask, ‘What do we need? What do we feel like our holes are? Are we missing a certain shoe brand? Are we missing a certain furniture brand or a clothing brand?’ ” Tennison said. “We know we’re not L.A. and Chicago yet, but some of them are starting to work on that second-tier market, like Des Moines, and want to branch out into those areas.”

Good timing — and LEGO wanting to go into a second-tier market — worked out for Jordan Creek. When a tenant leaves the mall, management might not move to fill the space immediately and rather save the space for another potential tenant they see as a better fit.

The Outlets are a good proposition for business owners for several reasons. Being located to sites that drive major traffic makes it an ideal spot as a shopping hub.

“Outlets of Des Moines is located in the heart of Altoona, an entertainment destination featuring Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino, Adventureland Amusement Park, and Bass Pro Shops. We have excellent visibility,” Just said.

That visibility helps them attract big-name businesses, but they do offer options for local businesses. The Outlets also expect Planet Fitness to join their range of options soon. 

“Tenants are mainly national and international brands seeking an outlet center. It is a first-come, first-served leasing basis. Most of our stores are outlet retailers, so it is mainly a self-selection process in that regard. We may also have pop-up local retailers take a short-term space,” Just said. 

Holland and her leasing team attend chamber events and travel to other shopping destinations to see what is happening around them. Holland also views filling Merle Hay Mall like having a merchandising plan. 

“You want the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts. So, you want to aggregate tenants in places where they share shoppers, and shoppers who want to go into one store want to come into another,” Holland said.

She provided examples of this as Shoe Carnival being across the hall from Old Navy; Ulta being next to Target; and having Five Guys, a fast food burger chain, near the entrance. Holland says as the mall continues to improve in several areas, it will continue to group similar businesses near each other. 

For Mansfield and Southridge, their outlet-like mall stores have experienced success, and having a Target and Hy-Vee nearby attracts customers, too. He mentioned a new range of restaurants could take up space soon in the Southridge area. 

“We’re talking to Texas Roadhouse and Chick-fil-A right now. We’re going to fire up our own brunch concept. It’s going to be called ‘Nice Diner.’ It’s going to have an Iowa theme on it,” Mansfield said.

Demand for new restaurants appears to exist. Raising Cane’s and Olive Garden have both opened up restaurants just north of Southridge on Southeast 14th Street and Army Post Road. 

“We do think that, just like bringing Nativebid here, some of this may be our own efforts. We’ve got to do some of the work ourselves and bring our own things. Whether it is those restaurants I mentioned or something similar to them, a good fast food place that brings a lot of traffic, a good sit-down place where you can bring your kids and you can wear your blue jeans or whatever it is and get a good meal at a reasonable price,” Mansfield said. 

 

Bringing people in now and in the future

Jordan Creek has some of the biggest name-brand stores you can find, not just in central Iowa, but across the country. Having retailers like that is a major way the store is able to bring in shoppers from all over the region.

“When we look at some of the larger metro areas, we ask, ‘What can we provide here to keep them from going to Kansas City or to Minneapolis?’ The Apple Store, for example, is the first in Iowa. The LEGO store, Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma. We have probably 60 or 70 tenants now that are first in Iowa. And when we first opened, that was one of the keys — bringing in retailers that didn’t know a lot about Iowa,” Tennison said.

At the Outlets, having well-known brands certainly helps bring people in, but having off-price retail goods gives shoppers another reason to shop. 

“Our outlet stores offer shoppers the ability to save up to 70% off on top brands at retailers such as Ann Taylor Factory Store, Coach Outlet, Gap Factory Store, Polo Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade Outlet, Nike Factory Store and many others,” Just said.

The Outlets have also had success with bringing in people through a variety of events. 

“Our event offerings are exciting and varied, appealing to various groups in the community. From local Iowa artisans at the K² Marketplace Magic, to onsite classes such as painting, cake decorating and candle making, to the Vernardos Circus residency at the center,” Just said.

Merle Hay Mall plans to diversify its options not just through retail but with the aforementioned recreational arena. The planned arena could house local hockey and sports teams and serve as a potential practice facility, which could increase foot traffic. One of their successful innovations, opening Flix Brewhouse, a brewpub, dine-in movie theater, helped them survive the closing of anchor stores. In 2018, Younkers and Sears both closed within 45 days of each other, leaving Holland with some difficult decisions to make. She moved Kohl’s to the front and then, in 2023, Merle Hay opened Dinks Pickleball, a first-of-its-kind pickleball haven and another way to bring people to the mall that is not solely reliant on retail.

“In 2018, we had a new opportunity at Merle Hay to change the profile of the center. We looked around and decided that the thing to really lean into is youth sports and entertainment. They (Dinks) bring a lot of people to the shopping center in ways that a retail offering there may not. We feel like Dinks was a great reuse of the Kohl’s building,” Holland said

Mansfield faces many of these same changes with how and what to fill the Southridge Mall with. With empty spaces, the number of opportunities is equally high. Ambitions range from Dragon Fly Park, a trampoline park expected to be open by next year, to a fieldhouse for basketball, soccer and volleyball, similar to a smaller MidAmerican Energy Recplex in West Des Moines. Mansfield also mentioned that a potential BMX park that has gained steam in recent months could call Southridge home.

“I will say this about Macerich (the company that owned the property and partnered with the City of Des Moines beginning in 2012 to rebuild the spot), they did procure a really good mix of stores for this area,” Mansfield said. “We sort of have an outlet mall, in the sense that so many of the stores out here are off-price with Marshalls, Ross, Citi Trends. We just signed a contract with Five Below, and we’ll have the newest and biggest Five Below in the metro,” Mansfield said.

Open space also allows Southridge Mall to be used for events. Iowa Workforce held a packed job fair at the Mall in May. Holiday Hullabaloo, a 10,000-person event, will be held at Southridge next winter. Mansfield says there have also been talks with Christkindlmarket about a Park and Ride.  

“We have great momentum,” Mansfield said. “We have a list of opportunities that we now get to pick what we think can be out here, what fits into the ecosystem out here.