Come for the workout, stay for the shopping: As retailers struggle, malls look to gyms to fill space
by Lauren Zumbach, Chicago Tribune
Jun 07, 2018
4 minutes
LOMBARD, Ill. - While mall walkers strolled Yorktown Center's quiet corridors before most shops opened Monday morning, a handful of visitors in search of a tougher workout strode straight from their cars to the fitness studios along the Lombard mall's western side.
Shopping centers used to shun gyms and workout studios, believing clients would clog parking lots without patronizing shops post-workout. But consumers' changing shopping habits left some mall-based chains foundering, from department stores like Carson's, which is in the process of shutting down all its stores, to smaller shops like Gymboree and Rue 21, which announced hundreds of closures last year.
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