Tim Gallen/Phoenix Business Journal—After an up-and-down year, industry experts say retail will continue to recover in the Valley and statewide — but retailers themselves remain wary. Retail began to thaw in 2013, with an outlet mall opening and existing shopping centers adding new stores. Pent-up demand from consumers broke early in the year, said retail […]
Archives for 2014
Smal-Mart?
In my last column, I discussed some of the major trends that I see becoming a factor in 2014, with one of those being the continued movement for retailers to shrink their physical footprints. Most prominently, Target and Wal-Mart have begun exploring this option—specifically in urban markets where space is at a premium. In this […]
Feelings and Forecasts for 2014
With a little more than a week remaining in 2013, I think now is a good time to reflect on what we learned this year and begin to look ahead to what we can expect to see in 2014. I suspect that many retailers will continue to downsize their physical footprints, and I anticipate a […]
Ho-hum holiday shopping sees late surge in Detroit area
Mike Martinez/The Detroit News—Strong Super Saturday and Sunday sales likely won’t move the needle on a ho-hum holiday shopping season. Fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, coupled with bad winter weather and a lack of must-have gifts have resulted in flat sales across Metro Detroit shopping malls and big box stores, analysts say. Sales […]
Shopping down on weekend before Christmas, reports indicate
Justine Griffin/Sarasota Herald-Tribune—While retail stores were busy with the many bargain hunters looking for a last minute deal before the holiday this past weekend, Sarasota shoppers Beth McCullagh and Melissa Tomasso were relaxing at home, their shopping already done for the season. McCullagh, a dedicated Black Friday shopper who lives with her family in Lakewood […]
At Christmas, region’s retailers just warming up
Justine Griffin/Sarasota Herald-Tribune—The shopping days that precede the holidays are taking on their own personality. We’ve got Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday. There’s Free Shipping Day, which fell on Wednesday, a week before Christmas, this year. And now we’ve got Gray Thursday, a title for those murky hours on Thanksgiving evening into […]
