American Dream Mall Reveals It Has Landed A Retail Prize

The owners of the American Dream mall in the New Jersey Meadowlands like to boast that their project has attractions not found in any other malls in the New York metro area, or much of the world – indoor water and amusement parks, a ski slope, an aquarium, an observation wheel. But the future tenant they seem proudest of lately is something many malls already have – an Apple
AAPL
store.

The news, revealed by mall officials, that Apple plans to open a flagship store at American Dream gives the mall, which has struggled to fill its retail space, an important retail stamp of approval.

Don Ghermezian, CEO of American Dream, confirmed that Apple had signed a lease, saying it is one of a number of impressive retail tenants coming this year to the mall. A mall spokesperson, in a statement, said “Apple fits in seamlessly” with American Dream’s “superior mix of experiences and retail.”

The store is expected to open by the end of the year, and will be located on the second level of Court D, across from the two-story Zara store, according to mall officials.

Apple, which is famously close-mouthed about plans for future stores until they are almost ready to open, did not reply to repeated questions about the American Dream store.

Eleven other malls in New Jersey have Apple stores, most of which opened in the first decade after Apple launched its original two stores in 2001, in California, and Virginia.

Apple fast became the most coveted tenant of every mall leasing team, as the stores’ ability to draw crowds, and their stratospheric sales-per-square-foot, quickly became obvious.

As Forbes.com contributor Sanford Stein noted last year, when the stores celebrated their 20th birthday, Apple stores produce record-breaking sales-per-square foot figures, reportedly $5,500 to $6,000 per square foot, or twice what Tiffany stores generate.

But Apple has been selective about which malls it picks, and it also has focused on prime, non-mall locations in U.S. and foreign cities.

Apple has 518 stores around the world and about half of those are located in the United States.

Because Apple isn’t sharing any details about the American Dream store, it is hard to know exactly how big a deal this leasing deal will be for the mall.

Apple’s two most recent store openings, in Seoul, South Korea, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, are showcase stores located near tourist attractions, and designed to highlight Apple’s renewed focus on experiences in its stores, such as Today at Apple classes on topics like video editing, music remixing, or coding. The new Seoul store is Apple’s largest in South Korea.

American Dream officials said they could not comment on how may square feet Apple will occupy at the mall because the details have not been finalized.

The 3-million square foot complex has a lot of retail space to fill. The plan originally was for a 50-50 retail-entertainment split. That shifted in recent years to 70% entertainment, 30% retail. According to the mall’s most recent disclosures, American Dream is 82% leased, including leases under negotiation. A mall spokesperson said last week that the mall will be close to 95% leased by the end of this year.

If Apple builds an unusually large flagship, or uses the space to experiment with a new store design, or new experiences for customers, the leasing deal could be a major coup for American Dream. And even if it opens a smaller, more standard store, American Dream will be able to boast to other prospective retail tenants that it has earned Apple’s stamp of approval.

That approval could help sway other retailers still afraid to commit to a mall that was delayed for a decade, first by failures of previous developers, and financing and construction problems, then the pandemic.