An example of an anchor store at The Florida Mall located in Orlando, Florida. The Florida Mall is a large enclosed Shopping mall in Orlando Florida. Orlando is a major City in central Florida, USA and is the County seat of Orange County Florida.

In retail an anchor store or draw tenant (in American English) is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain. Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. A shopping mall or shopping centre is a building or set of buildings that contain Retail units with interconnecting Walkways enabling visitors A department store is a Retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant merchandise line. Chain stores are Retail outlets that share a Brand and central management and usually have standardized business methods and practices

When the planned shopping mall format was developed by Victor Gruen in the mid-1950s, signing larger department stores was necessary for the financial stability of the projects, and to draw retail traffic that would result in visits to the smaller stores in the mall as well. Victor David Gruen, born Viktor David Grünbaum ( July 18, 1903 - February 14, 1980) was an Austrian born commercial architect The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive Anchors generally have their rents heavily discounted, and may even receive cash inducements from the mall to remain open. In physical configuration, anchor stores are normally located as far from each other as possible to maximize the amount of traffic exposure for other stores when shoppers walk from one anchor to another.

Early on, grocery stores were a common type of anchor store, since they are visited often. A grocery store is a store established primarily for the Retailing of Food. However, research on consumer behavior revealed that most trips to the grocery store did not result in visits to surrounding shops. As of 2005, the declining popularity of old-line department stores makes it necessary for mall management companies to consider re-anchoring with other retail alternatives, or mix commercial development with residential development to guarantee a captive clientele.

External links

• The loss of an anchor for a mall in Skokie, Illinois