The country’s fastest-growing sport is becoming a staple tenant at shopping centers. Pickleball was invented in 1965 but has exploded in popularity in recent years. During the pandemic, more than a million Americans began playing, bringing the total to around 5 million, according to Angevin & Co., which plans a new concept called Camp Pickle.

It’s a sport that works well alongside food-and-beverage, and it’s a good option to fill empty second-generation space. As many as 12 courts could fit in an empty big-box store. Look no further than:

• Georgia’s Macon Mall, where a former Belk department store is set to become a 32-court indoor pickleball facility.

• Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey’s Harbor Square Shopping Center, where pickleball complex ProShot soon will move into an empty former Burlington.

• Colorado Springs’ University Village Colorado, where Courtside Superstores plans to open 10 pickleball courts, a store, a bar, a cafe and seating areas in a 30,000-square-foot former Stein Mart. Courtside Superstores — which opened its first complex in June in Irvine, California — plans more than 50 similar facilities around the country by the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, Tanger Outlets president and CEO Stephen Yalof told CNN Business in February that a new executive vice president at the company was a ranked pickleball player and that the landlord was in talks to add a pickleball and food-and-beverage tenant to some of its outlet centers.

Developers have their pick of pickleball concepts these days. The newest is from serial eatertainment entrepreneur Robert Thompson, founder and visionary of the award-winning Punch Bowl Social concept. Thompson, who is CEO of Angevin & Co., is launching a food-and-drink-focused, indoor/outdoor pickleball concept called Camp Pickle.

Thompson said Camp Pickle, which features a nostalgic 1940s summer camp setting, will stand out from the crowd. “It is not a pickleball municipal rec center” but rather an immersive brand experience, he said. In addition to indoor and outdoor pickleball, visitors will be able to participate in pastimes like horseshoes, darts and bowling. Meanwhile the food-and-beverage program will be the core operational component, making up 83% of sales.

The first location will open in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2024. A second unit will open in a suburb of Denver soon after. “This concept can scale to fit a wide range of locations,” Thompson said. “We’re even working on putting a Camp Pickle on the rooftop of a six-story building in a downtown area of a major city.” Plans include 10 company-owned locations by the second quarter of 2026. Camp Pickle also plans to sell franchises.

The concept will help bring nighttime, family energy to marketplaces that need it, he added. “The pickleball eatertainment demographic net is the widest I’ve ever seen,” Thompson said, “ranging from the groups of Millennials and Gen Z that we’ve targeted for the past 12 years to families and senior guests that play pickleball for fitness in the early mornings.”

More Pickleball Plans

• Chicken N Pickle wants to grow from nine to 20 locations within the next two years.

• Rally Entertainment plans its first pickleball complex in Charlotte, North Carolina. The freestanding property will be 27,000 square feet.

• Real Dill Pickleball Club will open a unit at The District St. Louis, a 300-square-foot redevelopment of Missouri’s former Chesterfield Outlets, in 2023. Another unit is planned for The Galaxy at Polaris in Columbus, Ohio.

• Upscale gym operator Life Time plans to have 600 pickleball courts across its clubs by the end of 2023, up from 250 now. The retailer even has rebranded some locations as Life Time Pickleball.