9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

WHO: Much of the focus of the last opportunity that I brought up, regarding the redevelopment of traditional malls, is focused on younger generations. Generations of Millennials who do much of their current shopping online and not at traditional retailers. At first thought, I had hypothesizes, people who fall out of the boundary would be senior citizens and on the business side, the people who fall outside of the boundary would be solely commence businesses that have absolutely no retail presence. However, when conducting interviews, I had found that senior citizens would also appear to be inside the boundary. These leaving my conclusion on people outside of the boundary as solely online retailers and people who just need items on demand. 

WHAT: The need identified is, the need to visit a real location, whether it be for social aspects, or lifestyle aspects. The need of going somewhere to socialize and to serve as something to do can differ from the need of wanting things on demand. In our changing society I feel that when someone has the need to want an item on demand, they will have the freedom and convenience to order this online and receive it within 1 to 2 days. However, the need to visit establishments, a common ground to meet others, to shop in person, and to have a place to go during both leisure and work house will serve its purpose with this opportunity. 

WHY: People outside the need, such as the senior citizens that we had brought up prior, may have the need to purchase things because they are unable to work the online landscape to order things online conveniently. Seniors also have a desire to get out of the house and enjoy activities that these centers would offer. 

While conducting interviews with both of my grandparents, they had brought up the fact that they had never ordered something from Amazon before. Before mass closures, on weekends they had regularly walked around the Boynton Beach mall on Saturday and Sunday mornings occasionally purchasing items they needed on the walk. When bringing up the idea of transforming these dying malls into lifestyle centers, they had seemed excited to the idea. A place that they can still enjoy their weekend morning walks and be able to purchase groceries for the week, go shopping, enjoy a movie, and maybe even live in, all in the same area. 

I also interviewed Max, a friend of mine who owns solely an e-commerce storefront. Max, currently only sells clothing and accessories online and distributes to customers throughout the United States. When bringing up the idea of a brick and mortar location, at first he had seemed skeptical and not thrilled to do it. He had exclaimed that this was simply “unnecessary” stating that he had been consistently growing by just selling his merchandise online. The headache and hassle of setting up a storefront to him seemed completely out of the picture. No matter what ideas I had brought to him he was completely against such a practice. 

Although when speaking with Justin, another friend of mine who owns a perfume and cologne business completely online he had seemed more open-minded to the idea. At first he had put out the same exclamation of “Why would I ever do such a thing? Such a hassle in a dying industry!” Though through explaining to him exactly what the commonplace of the Lifestyle center would serve for, he had appeared more open minded. He had realized that because of the nature of his business many people would return the scent of the cologne after ordering it online, being unable to smell it in person first. Having a retail storefront would serve to reach more people with the actual scent of the fragrance and can ultimately create new customers that may have never been searching for the cologne prior to visiting one of the centers. This of course being reliant on the fact that many people would visit these lifestyle centers frequently and commonly.