By Dr. Ricardo Gomez-Insausti, Tansel Erguden and Dr. Ken Jones

With new forms of retailing such as big-boxes and B2C e-commerce expanding in North America, the future role of shopping centres (malls) is unclear.  Several factors have been cited as being associated with the apparent decline of the shopping mall.  The term "greyfield" has been coined by some analysts to describe the emergence of under-performing and/or declining shopping centre properties.  A number of indicators can be used to identify greyfield locations.  Typical signs of declining health include high vacancies, increases in tenant turnovers, the lost of anchor tenants and national chains; and, the decline and/or lack of reinvestment in the physical structure of the mall.