Business Insider Feature
Destiny USA featured in national publication as an example of thriving shopping centers
Business Insider reporter (and Syracuse University alumna) Marisa Palmer said she was intrigued to find out why Destiny USA was listed among one of the top retail centers in the United States and how it has managed to stay ahead of the so-called “retail apocalypse”.
Destiny USA is owned by Pyramid Management Group, the largest privately held shopping mall developer in the Northeast. Pyramid’s CEO, Stephen Congel, told Palmer that the formula for driving traffic and attracting shoppers is about offering options.
“It’s a pretty simple formula,” said Congel. “Give them more quality of things to buy, things to do, things to eat, they’re going to come from further. They’re going to stay longer; they are going to spend more.”
“The mall is now the main hub of tourism in Central New York, attracting people from across the world,” said Palmer in the feature. “Its most captivating appeal is an entertainment part of the mall called the Canyon.”
“We’re staying at the onsite Embassy Suites and my wife likes to shop,” stated one unnamed shopper Palmer interviewed in the video. “The mall has everything – it’s perfect.”
Destiny USA employees no longer refer to the former Carousel Center as a mall.
“The word ‘mall’ is outdated at this point. In the 90s and 2000s, people would look at ‘mall’ and that was the place to go, that was the town square, that was the happening place,” said Destiny USA Tourism Director Rose Hapanowich. “It’s no longer just a mall. Malls have been repurposed, reimagined, reinvented into destinations because they’re no longer just a shopping facility because that’s what the consumer wants.”
Despite all the changes, retail revenue still reigns king according to Destiny USA General Manager Rob Schoeneck.
“More and more, the reasons that we’re able to pull people in more frequently, is because of the food, it’s because of the outlets, it’s because of the entertainment,” Schoeneck added.
This year, Destiny USA was listed as one of the Top 10 Most Popular Malls in America by CEO World Magazine and designated as one of the Top 10 Retail Experiences of 2019 by publication Chain Store Age magazine.
Carousel footage shown in the piece was provided by CNY Central. To view the Business Insider feature, click here.