Gen Z Goes Big for Legacy Brands as Malls Make a Comeback

They may be digital natives, but members of Gen Z still love the mall.

That’s according to a report Sunday (March 8) from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which says that younger consumers’ enthusiasm for brick-and-mortar retail has helped fuel a recent recovery in the American mall sector.

Consumers aged 18 to 24 purchased 62% of their merchandise in stores last year, 10% more than shoppers 25 and older, WSJ said, citing numbers from data provider Circana.

The report contended that the physical act of browsing, of socializing with friends and wandering a busy mall are all experiences this generation — which spent some of its formative years in COVID-mandated lockdown — can’t experience through a screen.

According to WSJ, social media plays a big role in this trend, with influencers inspiring purchases, young shoppers taking fitting-room selfies and online retailers opening physical locations within malls.

Younger shoppers’ mall enthusiasm has helped boost sales for some retailers, the report added. For example, Tapestry, which owns Coach and Kate Spade, reported double-digit in-store sales growth for the quarter that ended Dec. 27, chiefly due to Gen Z consumers.

Clothing retailer Pacsun has gone from reducing its store footprint to growing its store count for the first time in 18 years during 2025, WSJ added. The company now plans to open up to 35 new locations in the next three years.

“It’s because Gen Z is showing up for the mall,” said CEO Brie Olson.

And as noted here last month, this trend does not apply only to the U.S. Burberry said in January that its 3% uptick in sales was due in part to double-digit improvement in Gen Z customer growth in Greater China and Asia Pacific, with growth among younger consumers happening across all regions.

But while malls are enjoying an uptick in sales and traffic, that resurgence doesn’t apply to all shopping centers, as PYMNTS wrote recently.

“Walk into a top-tier mall in a high-income suburb right now and you can still feel echoes of the holiday rush: full parking decks, busy food halls and steady lines at the ‘can’t-get-it-online’ stores,” that report said.

“Drive 20 minutes in the other direction and you may find an enclosed mall that feels more like a stranded asset, with dark corridors, empty anchor boxes and ‘for lease’ signs that have become part of the décor. The post-holiday verdict is not that malls are back or dead. It is that the U.S. mall sector has split into two distinct property types, and the performance gap is widening.”