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Until recently, dentists were as welcome as shopping centre toothaches.
Landlords preferred more traditional retailers at the mall, and if dentists leased space at all, they would drive the dentist out of their place.
Now they are prominent tenants of many shopping centres as part of a growing trend in medical retail or “Medtail” businesses that participate in boutiques and restaurants in nearby malls.
Chris Agun, vice president of real estate at PDS Health, which operates more than 300 dental clinics in California, including Alhambra Modern Dentistry at Alhambra Place, said the mall’s main spots were “previously reserved for ‘better’ tenants.”
Dentists share the upscale Alhambra shopping centre with Sephora and Sprout Farmers Market, serving patients who have had to trek to medical office buildings in the past few years to clean their teeth.
It’s an indication of how shopping centres have changed as pandemic restrictions have shut down many small businesses, retailers have hired a wide range of healthcare tenants, leading a wide range of healthcare tenants, including dentists, and other stores in the mall to include potential customers.
The Alhambra Modern Dentistry shares the upscale Alhambra Shopping Center with the Sephora and Sprouts Farmers Market.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
When dentists are in demand, they can be more selective about where they set up their practice. PDS Health prefers local shopping centres that are frequently visited by people who live nearby, with big box draws like Target, Costco and Walmart.
“We also love the local grocery store,” Aguon said. Because people often buy food.
“We found that women in the household tend to make most medical decisions for their home,” he said. “If we find our dentists are conveniently located in the same center, they tend to give it a try.”
Nevada-based PDS Health recruits young dentists from dental schools and is set up in storefronts nationwide. Patients often walk in, and they have immediate problems like dentists and neighbors, and they say they want to bring dentists closer to their homes.
Inside the Alhambra Modern Dental Office at Alhambra Place.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
The office is intended to be more attractive than past “Mom and Pop” store dentists, PDS Health Chief Executive Stephen Thorne said in a organized waiting room and bright colours. “It doesn’t feel like a clinic.”
Dentistry is just one example of what is known as “Medtail,” a portemanteau of “medical” and “retail” in the real estate business.
Barry Scardina, president of American retail services at real estate broker Kushman & Wakefield, said the category is growing as Covid-19 led shopping centre owners now change their tenant mix.
Early in the pandemic, where all non-essential businesses were closed, health-related stores remained open and rent was paid. Their landlords have learned that the Medtail business is inflation resistant during the pandemic, Scardina said.
The emergency care facility is early medotail use, followed by a veterinarian and then dentist, Scardina said. Currently, the wellness category is expanding in several directions.
Boutique gyms and chain fitness centres are common in the mall. Nearby there are a variety of wellness businesses, including stretch loves, which help clients stretch to relieve muscle and joint pain, improve posture and reduce stress.
There is an infrared light heating sauna, Vitamin C infused water and Swissows have a shower with a cold plunge. Other wellness businesses include acupuncture, yoga, red light therapy to reduce pain and inflammation, and IV drops for hydration, including vitamins and minerals known to relieve hangovers.
“We see a lot of skincare,” she said.
Another class of wellness providers coming to the shopping centre revolves around semaglutide drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, which can help people drop pounds.
“I think there’s a whole new category that’s been launched over the last two years, and that’s all about weight loss,” said Colin Shaughnessy, executive vice president of leasing at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the owner of the shopping centre. “The economic impact of things like Ozempic will be felt over the next decade.”
Shopping centres may one day contain a specialist doctor and perhaps a life coach, and a weight loss clinic, he said, could include life coaches to help people maintain their accomplishments.
“When they’re taking these drugs, a lot of people lose a lot of weight and then they turn it back,” some of them because they don’t create new habits for a healthier lifestyle and require guidance,” Shaughnessy said. “I think it’s the next wave of where retail healthcare is going.”
Those who have experienced weight loss are more likely to join people who patronize the wellness business, and the mall will be there for them. He expects, for example, to visit the gym, followed by a cold thought or massage, and end up with a healthy meal within walking distance.
Health is a unique reward, but for some people with the means, “wellness is a kind of entertainment,” Shaughnessy said.
His company’s Westfield Century City Shopping Centre features UCLA Medical Clinic with immediate care, family medicine and other specialties.
Concierge provider Next Health offers a wide range of services, including NAD therapy aimed at increasing energy and mental clarity, ozone therapy to reduce inflammation and boost immunity, Botox, microneedling, and hormone replacement therapy.
People often visit wellness teenants, including gyms 3-5 times a week, he said, which may lead them to patronizing other mall businesses. The addition of a wellness stenant also helps more traditional mall merchants by not becoming a competitor in the typical mall business such as clothing boutiques, shoe stores, cosmetics and more.
Young people with birthday parties will play the course at Holy Molly, a very miniature golf course aimed at making all holes Instagramable at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Medtail joins a different category of tenants that aim to attract visitors known as empirical retail.
Shared events such as pickleballs, mini golf, bowling, x-throwing and other items are offered in spaces that once had traditional stores.
Mall Landroad Phillips Edison & Co.
“Ironically, the increase in health and wellness products and services is consistent with an increase in specialty sweets and treats,” the report said. Dessert shop openings have risen by 50% in the last year as consumers were looking for affordable dul.
Even before the pandemic, mall operators struggled to occupy their wealth as shopping habits changed, so he said, “It’s great to bring new concepts to these places.”
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