Bed Bath & Beyond and Old Navy are being replaced by pickleball in malls.

Pickleball is coming to malls to fill vacant spaces and draw customers away from traditional department store anchors. It is America's fastest growing sport, and developers are desperate to find vacant spaces to build courts. The number of people playing pickleball grew by 159% over three years to 8.9 million in 2022. Pickleball's rapid spread has created dilemmas for public parks and recreation departments, retirement communities, and country clubs. To address this, Pickleball America is taking over an 80,000 square-foot anchor space in Stamford, Connecticut, The Meadows at Lake Saint Louis plans to fill the space once occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond, and Camp Pickle is set to open next year in Huntsville, Alabama.