In June, a crowd packed into Italie Deux, a Paris shopping center owned by Ikea’s real estate arm, to watch adults hurl pillows at each other in a padded ring. The event marked the French debut of the Pillow Fight Championship, a U.S.-based combat sport league. Onlookers were invited to join in, with professional fighters offering free lessons to anyone willing to jump in.

The event was sponsored by Ingka Centres, the real estate arm of the largest Ikea franchisee, Ingka Group. The investment is unusual for a real estate company, but it reflects a deliberate strategy at Ingka Centres, which is part of Ingka Group, ranked No. 88 on Europe’s Fortune 500 list. The real estate group operates 38 properties, all of which include an Ikea store, across 15 markets in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. As physical retail competes with online shopping and concerns grow over a broader loneliness epidemic—a problem the World Health Organization elevated in 2023, when it launched a Commission on Social Connection and described loneliness as a pressing global health threat—the company is betting that community experiences can help its shopping centers thrive and grow.

“A shopping mall should be like an amusement park,” says Sebastian Hylving, chief executive at Ingka Centres. “If there’s no queue outside, you need to change what you’re offering.” He adds that a mall’s location is a relatively minor factor in determining whether people will visit. “The rest comes down to what’s inside, and whether it’s worth returning to.”

In Sweden, the company has partnered with the Svenska E-sportförbundet to host e-sports events and tournaments. In 2025, it hosted a Pippi Longstocking-themed storytelling experience at its Livat shopping and community centers in China, which drew more than 24 million visitors. This year, Ingka is bringing the experience to the rest of its shopping international centers.

“Visitation is not something you can rely on anymore,” Hylving says. “It’s something you need to earn. You need to give people a reason to visit, to stay longer, and come back.”

Europe’s physical retail sector has endured a turbulent stretch, including store shutdowns during the pandemic and the rise of online shopping. In the U.K., 13,500 retail stores closed in 2024, according to the Centre for Retail Research.

Still, the sector is showing signs of recovery. European cities saw a 39% year-on-year rise in store openings in 2025, according to real estate firm JLL. CBRE’s 2026 European Real Estate Market Outlook predicts shopping centers will increasingly court visitors with experiences such as event spaces and in-store fitness classes, rather than relying on retail alone.

“We’re seeing a shift back to analog experiences,” Hylving says. Whether it is cinemas, buying records, or people moving away from online dating and back toward in-person matchmaking events, he says, “we’re starting to remember how enjoyable it is to share experiences with others in real life.” The challenge, Hylving stresses, is whether a shopping complex can become a genuine fixture in people’s daily routines rather than a one-off visit. It is a challenge landlords far beyond Europe are confronting, as malls from the United States to Asia add cinemas, climbing walls, and food halls to spaces once filled mainly by shops. Hylving’s framing echoes what sociologist Ray Oldenburg called “third places” in his 1989 book The Great Good Place—gathering spots such as cafés and barbershops that are neither home nor work, and which he argued give communities their social glue.

Eight in 10 adults believe everyone deserves time to play, according to a survey of 3,000 adults by Ingka Centres. Yet 30% cite reduced access to suitable spaces as a barrier. Nature zones, calm corners, and community hangouts topped the list of spaces people wanted.

In response, Ingka is incorporating natural gathering spots into its properties. At one of its India locations, currently under construction, a garden is being designed for local visitors to eat and gather. “We want to build a network of playful spaces, a sort of living room for the community,” Hylving says. “If a place can become part of everyday life, visitation and growth will naturally follow.”

However, a lack of time, money, and social norms can prevent adults from playing in public spaces. Three in four people surveyed listed at least one barrier to playing in shopping centers, and a third said they simply want to run their errand and leave.

Even so, there are signs Ingka’s approach is working. “We’re having a very good year,” Hylving says. “Visitation is above goal, and sales in our meeting places are above goal.” The company’s most recent figures show footfall across its portfolio reached 320 million in 2025, an 18% increase from the previous year.

Architecture and design receive special attention. “The more relaxed and happier you are, the looser the grip on your wallet,” Hylving says. “Our shopping centers are designed as a figure of eight loop, so visitors can see where to go next, with natural stops along the way to rest and refuel,” he says. Natural light and sightlines matter as well. The more you can see from any given point, Hylving explains, the more likely you are to keep walking.

That design philosophy has also delivered environmental benefits. Over the past decade, Ingka Centres has cut its operational climate footprint by 77%, a reduction Hylving attributes in part to prioritizing natural light over artificial lighting and sourcing local materials rather than shipping them in.

Ingka has shown it can turn European shoppers into a captive, playful audience, benefiting from a broader recovery in physical retail. Whether the same formula will work in a market with a very different culture is the next test.

The company has named India one of its top three priority markets worldwide, with two major projects under construction near Delhi—in Gurugram and Noida. The Noida project is set to become Ingka’s first property to include a hotel. India is also a market where Ikea itself remains a newcomer: the retailer opened its first store there, in Hyderabad, in 2018, and its store rollout has run slower than the company originally projected. Hylving says the developments are large even by Ingka’s standards, and early operational issues have already appeared on-site. Feeding roughly 3,000 construction workers a hot meal every day has become logistically complicated amid gas shortages, he explains.

“We’re humble that stepping into India is very different,” he says. “You cannot apply all what we have learnt in other markets straight off. You need to adapt.”

Between the pressures of online competition and a broader economic squeeze, shopping centers cannot afford to stand still, Hylving says. “Every day is game day. You can’t rest on your laurels.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com