By Recker McDowell —
First quarter numbers from mall owner Macerich (NYSE: MAC) show the strength of the Scottsdale market — even as retailers and shopping centers grapple with the age of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN).
Macerich owns close to 50 malls across the U.S.
Kierland Commons, which sits in Phoenix but has a Scottsdale address, and Scottsdale Fashion Square were two of Macerich’s top performing malls in the first quarter.
Kierland was Macerich’s fifth best performing mall and Scottsdale Fashion Square sixth best.
Kierland had sales of $1,281 per square foot in the Q1 2019 and Fashion Square had sales of $1,226 per foot.
Kierland’s sales were up 78 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. Fashion Square’s sales per foot were up almost 22 percent year-over-year.
That puts the duo in company with top performing malls in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York.
The Scottsdale Road centers also outshine their Arizona counterparts also owned by Macerich.
Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale ($812 per foot), Chandler Fashion Center ($705 per foot), Biltmore Fashion Park ($698 per foot), San Tan Village in Gilbert ($601) and Superstition Springs Center ($371 per foot) are all owned by Macerich.
Scottsdale is still the top dog for shoppers, both local and tourist. Macerich has been upping its game at Fashion Square including bringing in a new Apple store from the Biltmore Fashion Park.
Plenty of other developers and areas have been trying to replicate the success of Kierland. Some have made some inroads but the Scottsdale brand is still the standard bearer.
Scottsdale has plenty of economic and tourism gravitas and is looking to grow its creative and technology classes. But it’s still a big-time shopping destination.
