Page 70 - BusinessWest February 19, 2024

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Weathering the Storms
Location, Access, ‘Differentiators’ Help Holyoke Mall Thrive Amid Challenges
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
As she talked with Business- West, Lynn Gray and her staff were gearing up for February school vacation.
It’s always a busy time at the Holyoke Mall, which Gray serves
as general manager, as young people and families look for things to do. But these days, it’s even more so as ever-larger amounts of the mall’s 1.6 million square feet of space become dedicated to entertainment-related ventures rather than pure retail — although there’s still plenty of that as well.
“We’ve certainly seen the benefits of that market consolidation.”
Indeed, over the past several years, former retail spaces have given way to tenants like All In Adventures (billed as the ‘ultimate escape destination’), Altitude Trampoline Park, Round1 Bowling & Arcade; Planet Fitness; and Billy Beez, a massive play area that is home to twisting slides, sports courts, tunnels, trampolines, and more.
This is a national trend, said Gray, noting that, as major retailers — rang- ing from Sears and JCPenney to Christmas Tree Shops and Best Buy — close stores, their former spaces have
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Lynn Gray, general manager of the Holyoke Mall.