The Bounce-Back: How Entertainment Tenants Are Rewriting Retail Real Estate

BusinessRetailThe Bounce-Back: How Entertainment Tenants Are Rewriting Retail Real EstateByNaveen Jaggi,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about consumer trends shaping the future of retail.Follow AuthorJun 01, 2026, 11:00am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Kids play in the foam pit in the Foam Zone area of Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesAmericans are spending more on fun. That might sound counterintuitive given where things stand in today’s economy, with inflation hitting a 12-month high of 3.3% in March, a sharp spike in energy prices, and lower- and middle-income households together feeling the heat. A family of four pricing out a three-day Disney World trip would find themselves looking at nearly $2,800, not counting flights or a hotel. Theme park vacations are, for a growing number of families, simply out of reach.And yet consumer spending on experience grew in 2025. According to JLL's 2026 entertainment tenant study, foot traffic across 20 tracked entertainment concepts has fully recovered from the pandemic and now stands roughly 12% above 2019 levels. The fact is that people still want to get out, get together, and do something. They're just doing it closer to home — and the retail industry is being reshaped around that fact.The study tracked 207 concepts operating 4,746 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Another 721 locations are planned or announced. That's 16.5 million square feet of demand — and a signal that location-based entertainment has crossed from amenity to primary tenant category.The big-box vacancy that became an opportunity The same wave of retail closures that left landlords scrambling — Big Lots, Bed Bath & Beyond, Party City — created an abundant supply of exactly the...