“Wellness — the latest category of interest in retail — is set to become the mini anchor to backfill vacancies and reinvent the merchandising program,” Colliers says in a report titled The Fountain of Wellness in Retail: Transforming the Consumer Healthcare Experience. “Although there may be a magic mirror for fitness, personal wellness begins with being present in a physical space.”

Among consumers across all generations, almost 75 percent plan to spend more on health-and-wellness products, while roughly a quarter say they will spend more on general retail, the report says. This applies especially to baby boomers, of whom approximately 80 percent plan to spend more on health-and-wellness items, while nearly 20 percent say they will spend more on general retail.

The report even predicts there will be wellness “department stores” that offer a range of services and products. “Physical space of big-box retailers are well aligned for this type of one-stop wellness concept, and now is an opportune time for mall owners to craft a similar wellness experience with their tenants.”

The report cites a study by GlobalData in which 72 percent of consumers surveyed said they would spend more money at a retail project that contained wellness concepts. “This data represents a strong synergy between fitness, shopping, healthy dining and wellness services.”

It also quotes Peter Horvath, CEO of Green Growth Brands, which will have 100 stores at Simon and Brookfield Properties’ malls by summer's end. Consumer spending on cannabis and CBD will grow by 129 percent, to upwards of $25 billion, by 2022 from where it stood in 2018, the report says. “The demise of brick-and-mortar is a myth,” said Horvath.

“Health-and-wellness retailers are a perfect balm for what’s ailing shopping centers today,” the report concludes. “As with restaurants and cafés, the service and ambiance of wellness concepts are a critical component to the retail offering, one that cannot be duplicated online.”