Eataly, the global Italian gourmet market and restaurant chain, is venturing outside cities such as New York and Chicago into the suburbs to rapidly expand in North America. In so doing, it’s showing how suburban malls attract traditionally urban tenants, according to a report by CoStar News.
The company opened its first location in New Jersey at the upscale Mall at Short Hills in the past week, bringing its tally in North America to 13 sites and 50 stores worldwide. Eataly Short Hills, spanning just over 17,000 square feet on the mall’s first floor next to Bloomingdale’s, features a 230-seat restaurant, several quick-service counters, and a retail section with premium, imported Italian and regional foods.
Eataly’s arrival in Short Hills reflects the evolution of malls, analysts say, with original food courts so iconic and embedded in popular culture that they’ve been featured in Stephen King novels and movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” Today, retail landlords are looking for and inking leases with higher-end restaurants — and food purveyors known for high quality like Eataly — to elevate their malls.
The Short Hills mall, owned by Taubman, is located in a section of Millburn, an affluent bedroom community of New York City. Eataly already has a big presence in Manhattan — with locations downtown, in the Flatiron area, and in SoHo. The chain’s sites combine a market, a food hall, and a full-service restaurant to create what Tommaso Brusò, CEO of Eataly’s North America branch, described as “the experience of being in Italy” — beyond being a grocery store.
NEW AREAS FOR EATALY IN THE USA
Investindustrial, an independent European investment firm, has held a majority ownership stake of 52% in Eataly since last year, and it is looking for growth, according to Brusò, who said the company isn’t specifically seeking out “urban” or “suburban” sites, but rather “the right community”:
“Everything comes from the right community, where people appreciate it and seek this experience. Coming to Short Hills, it came naturally. A lot of people work in New York, they know us in New York, and they ask us: ‘We want to have the same experience in Jersey.’ So for us, it can match up to be in the mall.”
Eataly’s locations average in size from New Jersey’s 17,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet, to some as large as 50,000 square feet, according to Brusò.
PASTA AND WINE
All of Eataly’s locations have a full-service restaurant. In Short Hills, it is called Eataly Ristorante, with a menu that includes dishes such as Tagliatelle alla Bolognese with pork and beef ragu, a variety of pizzas, and 100 kinds of Italian wine spanning all 20 regions of Italy.
The market area offers hundreds of products made in Italy, including artisanal imports such a extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Along with a selection of dry goods, the retail space has a wine shop, fresh products from regional producers, and counters dedicated to salumi, cheeses, and fresh pasta, with an area for live pasta-making demos.
Eataly in Short Hills also features quick-service counters: Caffè Lavazza, an all-day cafe featuring Lavazza coffee drinks; La Pasticceria, a pastry counter with cakes, croissants, and other baked goods; Il Gelato, with gelato and sorbetto; Pizza alla Pala, offering a variety of Roman-style pizza; and Panini, a counter dedicated to focaccia and panini.
EATALY FURTHER EXPANDS
As for next year’s expansion, it includes urban and mall sites. Eataly will be opening its fourth location in both New York City and Toronto. Eataly debuted its first store in North America in 2010 in New York’s Flatiron district, with two more openings since then. The fourth site will be coming to Hudson Yards next year.
In Toronto, Eataly is already open at Yorkville, Sherway Gardens, and most recently at the Shops at Don Mills. At its fourth site at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Eataly will be taking over part of a former Nordstrom space at the mall.
Next year, the Italian chain is entering Florida with its first location slated for the Aventura Mall in the Miami area this spring 2025, with a two-level store near Nordstrom. The second Eataly in Florida is expected to open next fall at CityPlace in downtown West Palm Beach.
The chain will make its debut in Pennsylvania at the King of Prussia Mall early next year. It will be leasing about 23,000 square feet that were previously leased by Rite Aid and Forever 21.