This afternoon I discovered an article titled “The 10 highest sales-generating malls in the U.S.” on Fortune. I instantly became curious what these malls’ relationship was with walkability. Almost as instantly I realized that Walk Score could allow me to quickly quantify the malls’ relative walkabilities.
Summary of findings: with the exception of the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, the malls all had a walk score exceeding 50! Here is a table of the 10 malls sorted by walk score:
| Walk Score | Transit Score | Bike Score | Fortune Rank | Mall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98 | 96 | 97 | 3 | Pioneer Place |
| 92 | 62 | 57 | 2 | The Grove |
| 82 | 75 | 59 | 9 | Ala Moana Center |
| 78 | 63 | – | 6 | Aventura Mall |
| 62 | – | – | 1 | Bal Harbour Shops |
| 57 | 27 | 34 | 7 | The Mall at Millenia |
| 55 | 42 | 62 | 8 | Orlando Premium Outlets |
| 51 | 53 | 53 | 5 | Forum Shops at Caesars |
| 51 | – | – | 10 | The Mall At Short Hills |
| 27 | – | – | 4 | Woodbury Common Premium Outlets |
So then I became curious what the various walk scores for Utah’s malls would be. Below is the table sorted by walk score:
| Walk Score | Transit Score | Bike Score | Fortune Rank | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 93 | 70 | 85 | – | City Creek Center |
| 85 | 52 | 96 | – | Trolley Square |
| 80 | 70 | 90 | – | The Gateway Mall |
| 78 | 50 | – | – | The Junction |
| 72 | 36 | – | – | Newgate Mall |
| 72 | – | – | – | Cache Valley Mall |
| 69 | – | – | – | University Mall |
| 69 | – | – | – | Layton Hills Mall |
| 65 | 54 | – | – | Valley Fair Mall |
| 64 | – | – | – | Fashion Place Mall |
| 62 | 43 | – | – | Provo Towne Center |
| 56 | – | – | – | South Towne Center |
| 51 | – | – | – | Red Cliffs Mall |
| 48 | 23 | – | – | The District |
| 38 | – | – | – | Station Park |
Obviously Walk Score is not a perfect system for evaluating walkability. I feel that it is too heavily weighted towards nearby amenities and doesn’t pay enough attention to the quality of the walk. However, it does provide quick results and makes it simple and easy to compare locations.
