Shopping centers have been classified by the international council of shopping centers. They have been classified into eight basic types. These include community center, neighborhood center, fashion center, specialty center, outlet center, super regional center, and a theme or festival center. When this list was published in 1999, it became common to all countries. However, later this list was only specifically intended for the United States and then a separate list was published for the rest of Europe.
A neighborhood center
A neighborhood center is a small-scale shopping center that specifically serves a local neighborhood. They mostly have a pharmacy or a supermarket as an anchor. They are also commonly arranged in the format of a shopping mall. These types of shopping centers have a business area of around 30,000 to 150,000 square feet. They also serve a major area within a 3 mile radius.
A community room
You can say that a community room is larger than a neighborhood center. It also offers a very wide range of products. They mostly have two anchor stores that are extremely larger than those in a neighborhood center.
A regional center
A regional center is a type of shopping center that is designed in such a way that it can serve a much larger area compared to a conventional shopping center. Therefore, it is able to offer a much larger business area and thus can serve numerous clients in a single moment.
Super regional center
This is a very large type of mall. It covers an area of over 800,000 square feet and this is a gross leasable area.
A fashion center
A fashion mall generally consists of luxury boutiques and clothing stores and these cater to customers who are wealthy or have access to a higher level of income. They also have a commercial area that varies between 80,000 and 250,000 square feet.
A center of power
A power center is a very large shopping center that has a large number of large retailers as anchors. They have a business area that is between 250,000 and 600,000 square feet and they also have a main business area of 5-10 miles.
Festival center
These types of shopping centers have a unifying and very distinct theme that is followed by the individual stores and also by their architecture. They are mostly located in urban areas and cater to large numbers of tourists.