When Mario Kiezi purchased Oakland Mall in 2022, he did so with bold ideas and a vision for the future. The 1.5-million-square-foot shopping center was to become “a mall of the people,” a space for the next generation of families.

Three years later, the results are beginning to show, though it’s been a mix of wins and challenges. The mall suffered a major setback this year with the closure of Macy’s, one of the longstanding anchor stores at the shopping center, which opened in 1968.

Still, Kiezi of Troy-based MKiezi Investments LLC says he remains focused on transforming the mall into a hub for diverse shopping and immersive, family-friendly experiences.

“We want to own family,” he said. “We want to own fun.”

One of the most recent additions to the mall is GEMU, an 8,000-square-foot indoor playground and clawcade developed by Grace Chen and her daughter, Wen Chen, of Shelby Township. GEMU opened in April after about 15 months of preparation.

The brightly-lit, pastel-colored space features arcade-style claw machines with cute prizes, a play structure and a playground featuring a ball pit, twirly slide, air cannons and a mini basketball court. Adults can join their children.

“We did decide pretty early on it’s going to be probably for kids 12 and under, and we wanted something a bit different from your typical arcade style,” Wen Chen said. “So something a lot more light-hearted and playful.”

Emphasizing the experiential aspects of retailing is a smart strategy for the mall, said Patricia Huddleston, a professor of retailing at Michigan State University’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations.

“For malls to survive, they are going to need to mix more traditional stores, like the JCPenneys and the H&Ms of the world, with things that provide something maybe a little bit more entertaining in the mix.”

Offbeat offerings

The departure of Macy’s at Oakland Mall this year comes after the retailer in January announced it would close dozens of underperforming stores, including four in Michigan. The closures are part of an ongoing strategy the retailer calls a “Bold New Chapter,” which it said will return the company to sustainable and profitable growth.

Kiezi is weighing options to fill the anchor space. He said that while it would be challenging to split up the former Macy’s building, which covers 400,000 square feet, for different tenant uses, “everything is on the table right now.”

Even with the department store’s departure, Kiezi said the mall remains above 80% occupied, with some of the spaces vacant by choice as he seeks the right mix of stores and attractions. Large national retailers remaining there include JCPenney, Dick’s Sporting Goods and H&M.

“We’re different and we continued to do things that are different to be able to reintegrate and reinnovate the mall,” he said. “We’re really focused on community, we’re really focused on family-friendly entertainment. A place for moms to come, for families to come.”

The first floor of the mall, which includes GEMU, is designed for kids 12 and older, Kiezi said, while the mall’s entertainment wing will be geared more toward teens and adults. A toy store, whose name Kiezi declined to share, is expected to open this summer. Slime Studio, which opened earlier near GEMU, is closed for renovations. A health market and a separate café, called Hibbl, is expected to open soon.

Kiezi said he’s particularly proud of Gashapon Bandai, a capsule toy store he opened last year. Originating in Japan, Gashapon machines dispense anime and pop culture-themed items. Kiezi recently discussed the concept while standing among the store’s 500 machines stocked with toys from popular TV and video game franchises, including “Stranger Things,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Hello Kitty” and “Minecraft.”

He said he discovered the Gashapon concept while tracking global retail trends, reached out to Gashapon Bandai and signed a licensing agreement to bring the store with its item-dispensing machines to the mall. Tokens are $2 apiece.

“Here you have a general idea of what you’re going to get, but the difference is you don’t know which one of them you are going to get,” he said, pointing to a nearby machine. “That one right there, there’s seven different items in there. So when you’re spinning, it’s two tokens per spin. You don’t know which one of the seven you’re going to get. And people want the whole collection, so they’re often spinning many times to try to get the full collection.”

If someone ends up with a duplicate, they might trade with other collectors. He said customers include couples having a date night or people stopping by while in town to visit family.

Across the corridor from Gashapon Bandai sits Miniso, a colorful store featuring fun home decor items from brands including Coca-Cola, Disney, Marvel and Sesame Street.

Inspiration from Asia

Huddleston at MSU said that having stores like Gashapon Bandai and Miniso at the mall taps into a treasure-hunt aspect associated with stores like Costco and TJ Maxx.

“I think that stores like that have a really creative perspective on how to entertain kids,” she said. “They’re drawing people in for a fun experience.”

She said the mall owner has complemented the shopping and entertainment offerings with restaurants like Sea Pot, a hot pot and Korean BBQ restaurant with a conveyor belt system. And there’s also Boba Chai, the bubble tea place.

“You go and you play at the playground, and then you get a bite to eat,” she said. “And maybe you shop some of the other stores. So I think it’s a really interesting concept on what the new owner is doing.”

Grace Chen got the idea for GEMU — named after the Japanese word for “game” — after learning about similar play spaces in China. With a background in the restaurant business, she was ready for something new and studied the concept with visits to China, Toronto and New York. She said a conversation with Kiezi convinced her that GEMU would be a good fit for Oakland Mall.

“When she told me about it, she was super excited,” Wen Chen said. “And the location made a lot of sense for her because there were other Asian-themed stores in the mall as well.”

Wen Chen, a College for Creative Studies graduate, used her design training to bring the concept to life. With her roommate, Key Allard, she developed the color palette, branding and GEMU’s mascots: GEMURU, a game controller-themed monkey, and Byte, a computer bug-inspired character.

So far, the response has been good, Grace Chen said: “People feel comfortable. They really like it.”

At GEMU one recent Friday afternoon, families enjoyed the tall play structure while some tried their hand at winning a prize from the claw machines.

Among them was Kim Spanding and her two sons, Javian, 9, and Trenton, 3. Spanding, from Grand Blanc, said she saw images of GEMU on social media and had to check it out. She had visited the mall before, but this time it was GEMU that brought her back.

“When you walk into that new place, it doesn’t look that big, and then you get up in the play structure and you’re like ‘Wow. This is amazing,’” she said.

. “It’s huge in there. You don’t think about how big it is until you’re actually up in there.”

After visiting GEMU, Spanding also picked up some new T-shirts for her sons from The Children’s Place, which sits across the corridor.

“It’s nice because then we can also do our shopping and food court and all that good stuff as well,” she said. “It gives us a reason to go down that way.”