Thinking outside the mall

BURLINGTON -- A battle between two distinctly different suburban shopping centers is shaping up here, pitting a trendy ``lifestyle center" against a 38-year-old traditional mall.

The challenger, Wayside Commons , is scheduled to open in September and features an open-air layout designed to mimic a quaint Main Street scene. The $40-million-plus center eventually aims to have 36 stores, including familiar names like L.L. Bean , Borders , and Coldwater Creek , as well as area newcomers like home-furnishings retailer West Elm and Arhaus Furniture .

Rather than relying on huge department stores and a controlled climate to attract customers, lifestyle centers showcase smaller, mostly high-end retail spaces in a pedestrian-friendly village-style setting with lush landscaping, wide sidewalks, and parking near store entrances. Some stores are connected to one another, some not.

Wayside Commons is being built about a mile and a half from Burlington Mall , long a dominant retail presence in the region. One of its anchor stores, Filene's, closed recently, and a major renovation is about to start of the Filene's space and other parts of the mall, which will be expanded. When the work is completed in 2008 , the number of stores is expected to grow to 175 from 150, including a Nordstrom department store.

But while Burlington Mall has a size advantage, Wayside Commons has cachet. Lifestyle centers were named to distinguish them from huge malls and less tony-sounding strip centers. The shopping experience is meant to be more intimate and relaxed.

They're becoming increasingly popular, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers . It estimates that there are 143 of them nationwide, with most opening in the past six years. There are 1,104 conventional, enclosed malls in the United States, the group said, a number that has not grown significantly in recent years.

In Greater Boston, an earlier lifestyle center, the Derby Street Shoppes, opened two years ago in Hingham , and another one, Legacy Place in Dedham , is set to open in the fall of 2007.

They are ``a way to upgrade the retail experience at a time when shoppers are somewhat bored with malls," said Jim Koury , senior vice president at the Boston real estate services firm Spaulding & Slye , a member of the Jones Lang LaSalle group.

Steve Rice , a principal with Patriot Partners , Wayside Commons' developer, called them ``the cutting edge of retail."

``What we're trying to do is capture a Main Street feel. It's pedestrian friendly. You can pull your car up right to the front of a store," he said.

One of the most visible differences between the two Burlington shopping centers is the parking. The Burlington Mall has the traditional ocean of spaces -- 5,700 of them -- with the stores forming an island in the middle. It's a hike from the space farthest away. Stores in Wayside Commons form a horseshoe, with most of the center's 800 spaces in the center, making for a much shorter walk.

Earlier this week , another Patriot Partners principal, Joe Zink , gave a tour of the Wayside Commons construction site and pointed to an area that will be a tree-lined arcade with benches and a gazebo.

``I can see a high school band giving a concert, and families sitting out here eating ice cream," he said.

To enhance the small-town atmosphere, storefronts are being made from materials like brick and stucco, and some restaurants will have outdoor dining. When fully occupied, the shopping center's dining options will include a Capital Grille , a Coldstone Creamery , and a Fresh City .

While distance buffers Derby Street Shoppes from the nearest malls -- it's about 9 miles from South Shore Plaza in Braintree and 5 miles from Hanover Mall in Hanover -- Wayside Commons' proximity to Burlington Mall means the two will likely compete directly.

``There's only so much retail business to go around," said Bob Gottlieb , a former mall company executive and now president of Sceptre Marketing Group , a Maynard consulting firm. ``You have to take it away from someplace else."

Wayside Commons officials said most of their stores aren't in Burlington Mall.

Officials at Burlington Mall and Wayside Commons downplayed the idea of head-to-head competition.

``People will kick the tires and take it for a test drive," Burlington Mall general manager Rick Tonzi said of the new lifestyle center. ``I consider them not a threat but a challenge."

``You can't find the merchandise mix we have anywhere nearby," he added.

Greater Boston developers were slow to embrace the lifestyle center concept because it was thought that shoppers would not want to walk outside during bad weather, Zink said. But the success of Derby Street Shoppes proved that theory wrong.

``It's nice to be outdoors," said Michelle Bickley , 52, of Duxbury , during a visit to Derby Street Shoppes this week . ``It reminds me of the old style of shopping."

Marty Uhrig, 31, of Quincy, said he likes the convenience. ``Parking is always a hassle" at large malls, he said.

Liz Murphy, 32, of Norwell, agreed. At Derby Street, she said, ``errands are just in and out."

Wayside Commons officials hope a similarly relaxed atmosphere will appeal to its target audience of affluent women, said Rice , one of the center's developers.

Burlington Mall and others like it are too ``youth-oriented" for such shoppers, he said. ``Kids are hanging out, and the music is blasting."

But despite changes in the industry and the fickleness of shoppers, many big regional enclosed malls remain a formidable retail force and have survived other challenges, including long stretches of bad weather, economic recessions, and high gas prices.

Burlington Mall's owner, Simon Property Group Inc. of Indianapolis, does not disclose sales for individual malls. But Simon, which operates more than 300 properties across the country, reported that its first-quarter revenue rose 6.2 percent to $788 million from a year earlier.

Gottlieb, the consultant, said that he has seen retail trends come and go and that it is too early to predict the longevity of the lifestyle centers' appeal in the Boston area.

``Call me back in five years," he said.

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.