Ethnic malls have been sprouting up in cities across the U.S. for more than a decade. “We are not affected at all” by the recession, says Wan Wu, manager of the 80,000‐square‐foot Kam Man Mall. “Our business has been growing since we opened 6‐1/2 years ago.” With sales up 10 percent in each of the past two years, he’s looking to open a second supermarket in a Boston area Asian mall. As traditional malls across the United States struggle with the most severe recession since the 1930s (regional mall vacancies hit 8.4 percent last quarter, a nine‐year high), many ethnic malls across the country are enjoying steady business. In the land that popularized the mall, these newcomers are outdoing their mainstream counterparts. Ethnic malls target an underserved niche market. It also doesn’t hurt that the size of the market niche, in many cases, is growing. Part of ethnic malls’ secret is that their niche markets are more reliable and well protected in a recession than traditional mainstream segments. The combined buying power of African‐Americans, Asians, and native Americans was $1.5 trillion in 2008, almost 14 percent of the nation’s total buying power, according to the group. Hispanics controlled $951 billion in buying power last year, up 349 percent from 1990. That figure for Hispanics is supposed to hit $1.4 trillion by 2013, sending manufacturers, marketers, and retailers scrambling to profit from the exploding ethnic market. Apart from a financially resilient customer base, ethnic malls themselves are better poised to weather a recession. While mainstream malls are anchored by high‐end department stores and higher priced restaurants, the retailers most vulnerable in a recession, ethnic malls are usually anchored by supermarkets, low‐cost eateries, and service retailers. For example, banks in Asian malls help customers with overseas accounts, money transfers, and currency exchange.