Shopping Center Definitions 
( Source: ICSC )
Type of Center Concept Square Feet 
(Including Anchors)		 Acerage Typical Anchor(s) Anchor
Ratio		 Primary Trade
Area
Number Type
Strip Convenience under 30,000 .5-3 NA NA NA 3 miles
Neighborhood Convenience 30,000 to 150,000 3-15 1 or more Supermarket 30-50% 3 miles
Community Center General merchandise; convenience focused.  Anchored by grocery stores and occupied by neighborhood convenience specialty or service tenants.  Typically laid out as a strip center with parking in front 100,000 to 350,000 10-40 2 or more Discount Department Store, supermarket, drug, home improvement, large specialty/discount apparel 40-60% 3-6 miles
Regional General merchandise; fashion (mall, typically enclosed).  Anchored by department stores and occupied primarily with specialty tenants typically within an enclosed mall 400,000 to 800,000 40-100 2 or more Full-line department store, jr. department store, mass merchant, discount department store, fashion apparel 50-70% 5-15 miles
Super Regional Similar as Regional, but more variety  800,000 + 60-120 3 or more Full-line department store, jr. department store, mass merchant, fashion apparel 50-70% 5-25 miles
Power Center Category-dominated anchor; few small tenants.  Anchored by one-level department store or large hard-goods retailers combined with other also relatively large-formats (15,000 sf and larger) retailers.  The Power Center typically has a dep linear building with a site line on the street side with pad sites, typically for restaurants.   250,000 to 600,000 25-80 3 or more Category killer; home improvement, discount department store, warehouse, club, off-price 75-90% 5-10 miles
Fashion/Specialty Higher End; fashion oriented 80,000 to 250,000 5-25 NA Fashion NA 5-15 miles
Lifestyle/Specialty Upscale national chain specialty stores; dining and entertainment in outdoor setting.  Unanchored, high-end specialty strip center with the same tenants as a mall, minus the department stores, with a few sit-down restaurants.  Generally laid out as a strip center with variations that may be U or L shaped.   150,000 to 500,000, more or less 10-40 0-2 Not usually anchored in the traditional sense, but may include book store; other large-format specialty retailers, multiplex cinema, small department store 0-50% 8-12 miles
Urban Entertainment Center Often anchored by a cinema, features bookstores, restaurants, bars, and other leisure-time ventures, often also with a collection of specialty retailers.  Tend to have an open-air pedestrian component with strong attempt to create a "sense of place."  A leisure-time destination that is often the basis for downtown revitalization. These centers combined shopping and recreation with entertainment to form an overall experience. Retail needs the entertainment to draw people in and entertainment needs retail to support the overall operation. 80,000 to 250,000 5-25 1 usually cinema
New Town Center a mixed use development that is the social-hub of the community.  It follows traditional urban design principles with grid streets providing a pedestrian-friendly environment that also contains public spaces that are available for community events, public and civic functions.  A significant destination on the scale of a regional mall, it can have both horizontal and vertically uses.   800,000 + including 400,000  retail, 100,000 leisure, plus office and residential 100 + 3 or more Regional mall plus strong leisure-time component including cinema and sit-down restaurants.  Residential and office 
Outlet Manufacturer's Outlet Stores 50,000 to 400,000 10-50 NA  Manufacturer's outlet stores, outside of major metropolitan areas NA 25-75 miles

 

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