America is in the middle of a crisis that has nothing to do with interest rates, cap rates, or construction costs. It’s a crisis of human connection—and it represents the single biggest untapped opportunity in retail real estate today.

According to Cigna’s 2025 “Loneliness in America” report, 67% of Gen Zers and 65% of millennials report feeling lonely. A 2024 Harvard survey found that 67% of adults feel social and emotional loneliness because they are not part of meaningful groups. The U.S. Surgeon General has formally declared loneliness an epidemic, comparing its health impact to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

As someone who has spent over 30 years in retail real estate, here’s what I see: this is not just a public health story. It’s a leasing story. It’s a repositioning story. It’s a value-creation story. The shopping centers that solve loneliness will be the ones that dominate the next decade.

The Problem Is the Opportunity

The places where Americans used to naturally gather—churches, community centers, bowling alleys, neighborhood stores—have been disappearing for decades. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg called these “third places”: informal gathering spaces that are neither home nor work, where people connect without pressure. The decline of these spaces has accelerated isolation at every age level.

Meanwhile, remote work has eliminated the office as a social anchor for millions. Social media creates the illusion of connection without delivering the real thing. Gen Z, despite being the most digitally connected generation in history, reports the highest rates of loneliness—with some studies putting the figure as high as 79%.

Here’s the paradox that should excite every retail landlord: the loneliest generation is also the generation returning to physical retail. PwC’s 2025 analysis shows 61% of Gen Z now prefers to discover new products in-store. An L.E.K. Consulting study found 64% of Gen Zers prefer shopping in-store to online. Three-quarters shop in person at least once a week. They aren’t just buying things—they’re seeking experiences, atmosphere, and human contact.

This is the setup for a generational trade in retail real estate. The demand exists. The question is: who is going to build the supply?

What Retail Real Estate Can Do About It

Norwegian public health researchers published a 2026 study in the journal Cities confirming what many of us in the industry already sensed: shopping centers play a critical role in reducing isolation and loneliness. They found that for elderly visitors in particular, the shopping center was often their only social outlet. Even passive social experiences—people-watching, a smile from a stranger, overhearing conversation—provided measurable improvements in well-being.

The ICSC now describes the most successful shopping centers as “third places”—experiential destinations where friends meet for live entertainment, food, and hands-on activities. Nearly half of new tenants being added to centers across North America are experiential or service-based: boutique fitness, entertainment, co-working, and community services.

The data is clear. Now let’s talk about what to actually build.

Seven Ideas for Creating “Anti-Loneliness” Retail Environments

1. Design for Lingering, Not Just Transactions

Most shopping centers are designed to move people through efficiently. The loneliness opportunity requires the opposite: create reasons to stay. This means comfortable outdoor seating areas that feel like a living room, not a bus stop. Covered plazas with cafe tables, string lights, fire pits, and landscaping that creates a sense of enclosure. Urban design research shows that framing spaces with trees or low buildings, adding visual focal points like murals, and providing seating arranged for conversation—not just resting—significantly increases dwell time and spontaneous social interaction.

2. Anchor with “Community-First” Tenants

The old model was to anchor with a department store or supermarket and fill inline with national retailers. The new model adds a third category: community anchors. These are tenants whose primary value proposition is bringing people together. Think: hobby shops, cooking schools, music venues, art studios, fitness communities (not just gyms—think climbing walls, group cycling, yoga studios with real programming), pet-related social spaces, and co-working spaces designed for freelancers and remote workers who need to get out of their homes.

3. Create a Weekly “Market Square” Programming Calendar

The most successful third places aren’t just spaces—they’re rituals. People come back because they know what’s happening on Tuesday night or Saturday morning. Build a recurring programming calendar: farmers’ markets, live music nights, fitness boot camps, kids’ activities, craft fairs, food truck rallies, pet adoption events, and seasonal festivals. The key is consistency—weekly or biweekly events that become habits.

Fargo, North Dakota’s Folkways project demonstrates this model, combining a farmers’ market with indoor community spaces. In the NY metro area, this translates perfectly to open-air centers and lifestyle properties. Our own Shops on Broadway project in Hicksville is positioned to be exactly this kind of community hub—an open-air lifestyle center designed around experiences, not just storefronts.

4. Build the “Social Food Hall” Model

Food and beverage is already the most active leasing category in North America, with QSR and experiential dining leading activity according to Colliers’ 2025 global retail report. But the loneliness angle takes this further: design your food offerings as social infrastructure. Communal seating, shared tables, open kitchens, and a beer garden atmosphere encourage strangers to sit near each other. The food hall model works because it gives people a low-pressure reason to be in a space with other people, even if they’re eating alone.

The Norwegian research found that even ordering coffee through an app and gradually progressing to face-to-face interaction helped one visitor overcome social anxiety. Shopping centers that create these gentle, low-stakes social ramps are filling a therapeutic function that no app can replicate.

5. Make the Center “Content-Ready” for Gen Z

Gen Z doesn’t just shop at stores—they create content about the experience. Hashtags like #mallhaul, #shopwithme, and #instorefinds generate millions of views on TikTok. Shopping centers have become content creation studios. Lean into this by creating Instagrammable moments throughout the property: art installations, unique lighting, rotating murals, and interactive photo spots.

This serves the loneliness agenda because it gives people a social reason to visit—they’re going with friends to create content, or they’re going alone but connecting digitally with their community about the experience. Either way, you’re driving foot traffic and creating organic marketing that no ad budget can buy.

6. Integrate Wellness and Mental Health Services

If loneliness is a public health crisis, then wellness tenants are public health infrastructure. The next generation of shopping center tenant mix should include therapy and counseling offices, meditation studios, wellness clinics, mental health nonprofits with drop-in hours, and community health screenings. This isn’t charity—it’s smart leasing. These tenants draw consistent traffic, have long lease terms, and align with the values-driven spending patterns of younger consumers.

7. EV Charging Stations as Social Nodes

EV charging stations create a built-in 20–40 minute dwell time for every visitor. That’s 20–40 minutes where a driver needs something to do. If the charging station is surrounded by seating, greenery, a coffee kiosk, and Wi-Fi, you’ve just created a micro third place in your parking field. Multiply that across 300+ parking spaces and you’ve created a community gathering point that didn’t exist before.

This is particularly relevant for centers undergoing repositioning, where EV charging can be integrated into the redesign as both a consumer attraction node and a revenue-generating amenity.

The Bottom Line: Connection Is the New Anchor Tenant

The retail industry has spent the last 15 years playing defense against e-commerce. The loneliness epidemic finally gives us an offensive play. Amazon, Shopify, and every direct-to-consumer brand on Instagram can ship a product to your door. None of them can give you a place to belong.

The shopping centers that will win over the next decade are the ones that understand a fundamental truth: people don’t just need products. They need each other. And they need physical places that make connection easy, comfortable, and habitual.

For owners and developers, this means rethinking what “occupancy” means. A center that’s 95% leased but empty on a Tuesday afternoon is underperforming. A center that’s 90% leased but packed with people every day of the week—because it’s programmed, designed, and tenanted for community—is the one generating premium rents, higher retention, and long-term value.

© 2026 Schuckman Realty Inc.  •  Hicksville, NY  •  All rights reserved.