New Chicago Mall and Schumpeterian Disruptive Innovation

Today a new mall is opening in Rosemont, near O’Hare Airport and the Rosemont Convention Center. The Fashion Outlets of Chicago will have a range of familiar factory outlet stores and restaurants, conveniently located near the airport and public transportation (I could even take the el there from KP Chicago HQ!).

So what? According to its developer, Arthur Weiner, this mall breaks a bunch of retail factory outlet rules that were just begging to be broken:

“The rules that this center broke were rules that needed to be broken. They were begging to be broken,” said Arthur Weiner. So, just what’s bonkers about the place? “It’s fully enclosed, two levels — never been done before. It is next to the third largest airport in the world, never been done before anywhere in the world.”

“It’s wrapped around a seven-deck, structured parking garage, never been done before,” he continued. “It is never more than 75 feet from the entrance to a shop, never been done before. You go to an outlying outlet center, you’re walking 700 yards after you park your car.”

That does sound pretty neat, and novel. And there will be baggage concierge service for the airport, and an airport shuttle. Another novel aspect is the partnership with a group called The Arts Initiative, which will install large pieces of public art from Chicago artists in the mall. Thus the space will be part mall, part gallery.

Of course, this rang my Schumpeter bell. Rules broken, new configuration, new location, new set of customer services, new arts partnership. Perennial gale of creative destruction. Bring it, baby.