Gen Z brands are having a mall moment. Shoppers ages 14 to 29 who grew up online are increasingly making their way back to physical stores, and retailers from Urban Outfitters to Coach are racing to catch up.
Why Are Gen Z Shoppers Going Back to Malls in 2026?
Gen Z shoppers are returning to malls for immersive experiences, exclusive merchandise, time offline and social connection with friends, according to reporting from USA TODAY and WXYZ Detroit.
Elizabeth Lafontaine, director of research at Placer.ai, told USA TODAY that “the resurgence of the mall category directly correlates with Gen Z shoppers’ desire for community and in-person connection.” Tyler Hartman, 20, told WXYZ Detroit that mall trips have become a full outing. “You can kind of make a day out of it, you can go for a couple hours, get something to eat, maybe get a matcha or a coffee,” he said. Annabelle Saco, 24, of Bloomfield, Michigan, put it more bluntly to USA TODAY. “The mall is an experience,” she said. “You go there and you see all different kinds of people and it’s just getting out of your isolation in your home.”
Which Gen Z Brands Are Leading the Mall Comeback?
Urban Outfitters, Edikted and Coach are three of the Gen Z brands drawing the most attention as young shoppers head back into stores.
All three are investing heavily in physical retail built around Gen Z tastes. Urban Outfitters is rolling out a new Gen Z-focused store format to seven more U.S. locations this year, according to the brand’s press release. Edikted, the TikTok-viral fashion label, doubled its physical footprint in 2025 and plans 30 to 40 flagship locations nationwide, CEO Dedy Schwartzberg told Modern Retail. Coach, owned by Tapestry, reported double-digit in-store sales growth for the quarter ending December 27, 2025, chiefly due to Gen Z consumers, according to PYMNTS.com.
What Is the Urban Outfitters Gen Z Experiential Retail Strategy?
Urban Outfitters is broadening its new Gen Z-focused store format across additional U.S. sites this year, with brighter fitting rooms, expanded beauty inventory and what the brand calls “a more immersive and tailored shopping environment.”
The format first debuted in Houston, Texas, Glendale, California, and Bethesda, Maryland, in 2025. “Our goal is to be the go-to brand and destination for the categories and brands that define our customer’s style, and a source of inspiration through our creativity,” Shea Jensen, president of Urban Outfitters, said in a press release. “This new format gives us the freedom to shape our stores around our customers, their lifestyle, and the moments that matter most to them.” The brand cited data from its UO Insiders community showing 72 percent of Gen Z consumers are shopping in malls as the driver behind the rollout.
How Is Coach Winning Over Gen Z Shoppers?
Coach has rebuilt its image with Gen Z through archive revivals, TikTok marketing, celebrity partnerships, an eco-conscious angle and Y2K nostalgia, and it is now leaning into Gen Z experiential retail with its Coach Coffee Shop concept.
Tapestry, which owns Coach along with Kate Spade, saw that in-store surge chiefly driven by Gen Z consumers, according to PYMNTS.com. Coach opened four Coach Coffee Shop locations in 2025, pairing coffee and sweet treats with handbag browsing. “Since Covid, particularly for this younger generation, there’s a return to in real life shopping and malls and outlets are part of that equation,” Coach CEO Todd Kahn said in a CNBC interview. “They see the TikTok image. They see what they want. They’re like, ‘I want to go get that.’” Erin Keel, a 26-year-old in Los Angeles, told InStyle, “This is not the Coach that I’d known previously. I think that’s attributed to their positioning towards Gen-Z.”
Why Is Edikted Opening More Physical Stores?
Edikted, a digitally native fashion brand that went viral on TikTok, is expanding its brick-and-mortar footprint because in-city store sales are outpacing online sales in the same markets, according to the company.
The label launched online in 2020 and opened its first physical store in New York City in 2023 before expanding to Los Angeles and the Mall of America in Minnesota, the largest mall in the U.S. The brand is aiming for a total of 30 to 40 flagship locations across the country. “Everywhere we are opening stores in the same city, the store usually generates more revenue than online sales in that city,” Schwartzberg told Modern Retail. “It’s a win-win situation.” He said Gen Z customers want to touch the brand in person. “I’m always hearing customers in stores say, ‘Oh, this is the set we saw on this or that influencer.’”
