The Rise of Competitive Socializing
The fastest-growing category in retail real estate is not a store. It is an experience.
Eatertainment venues are filling the spaces that traditional anchors left behind. These concepts blend food, drinks, and competitive activities under one roof.
Pickleball complexes, modern bowling alleys, ax-throwing bars, golf simulators, and hybrid entertainment centers are now signing some of the largest leases in retail.
Why Eatertainment Works
The model taps into a clear shift in how people spend money. Millennials and Gen Z choose experiences over things.
They buy less stuff, but they spend more on activities they can share with friends and post online.
Eatertainment venues deliver on both fronts. They create shareable moments in social settings built around friendly competition.
The food and beverage side drives strong per-visit revenue and keeps guests on-site longer. This is not a fad. It is a structural change in consumer spending.
Camp Pickle and the Pickleball Boom
Camp Pickle shows where this trend is heading. The concept pairs pickleball courts with a full-service restaurant, bar, and event space.
It is built as a social destination, not just a place to play. The brand targets spaces of 50,000 square feet or more in high-traffic retail locations.
The financial model is what makes this category work.
These venues pull revenue from court rentals, food and beverage sales, private events, leagues, and merchandise. Multiple streams lower risk compared to a retail tenant that depends on one revenue line.
What This Means for Owners and Investors
If you own or are looking at a vacant anchor space, eatertainment should be on your radar.
These tenants need high ceilings, open floor plans, and strong parking. Those are the exact features that many former big-box stores already have.
The retailers that once anchored shopping centers are not coming back at the same pace.
But the demand for large, well-located spaces has not gone away. It has shifted to a new type of tenant, one that draws foot traffic, creates buzz, and keeps customers on-site for hours.
Know the site criteria these operators use. Match your property to their needs, and you move from chasing tenants to attracting them.
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(213) 880-8107 | francisco.williams@williamscap.ai | williamscapitaladvisors.com
