There has been a lot of discussion in the last several years about the strength of the grocery sector. As discussed in my latest edition of Retail Rap, I think it’s clear that a big reason behind that success has been the evolution of different formats and the explosive growth of a new generation of […]
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Retail Rap: Malling it Over
If we wanted to show the struggles of the classic American mall, as discussed in this edition of Retail Rap, I don’t think we could come up with a better example than Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan. When it opened in 1954, Northland was an instant hit: an icon not only for the region, but for the nation. One of the first and largest open air centers in the nation, Northland was enclosed in 1974 and today boasts space for 96 stores and nearly 1.5 million sq. ft. of retail.
Northland has been making headlines lately, as well. As the demographics on this socioeconomic boundary have shifted, occupancy numbers have steadily declined, falling below 50% in recent years. After more than six decades of operation, the mall looks to be in danger. Target has closed and the mall’s final anchor tenant, Macy’s recently closed. Today, Northland is in receivership.
What’s in store for Northland? What is the next chapter for this venerable American mall? Will it be razed and transformed into an industrial park like Randall Park Mall, repositioned into a different retail format altogether like with Christown Spectrum Mall in Phoenix, or will it end up in limbo, sitting empty like Summit Place Mall or Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio? Let’s discuss it in this edition of Retail Rap.
Retail Rap: Hitting the Streets
One of the interesting retail real estate trends I’ve been seeing pick up steam in the last couple of years is the willingness of many retailers to look beyond the traditional mall locations. Many are choosing locations on “hot streets,” bustling avenues within major communities that happen to be the retail hub, or in the […]
Retail Rap: You Win Some, You Lose Some
Overall holiday shopping season sales numbers have been rolling in, and the news confirms what many retail real estate analysts (including myself) suspected: 2014 holiday sales were strong. Nothing earth-shattering — but plenty good enough to chalk this one up as a win. As we chat about in this installment of Retail Rap, there were some bright and not-so-bright spots (December sales were weaker than expected, for example, and numbers didn’t hit some of the more optimistic overall projections), but the takeaway is that we did see the anticipated increase that the industry was looking for. The aggregate figures are generally all up above 3.5% for the period, and several reports came in closer to 4%. The National Retail Federation announced that sales were up 4% to a total of $616.1 billion — a figure which represents the biggest year over year increase since 2011.
The interesting story here is less about the headline number and more about what we see when we peel back the layers of the onion: the category- and brand-specific dynamics that tell us who were the holiday winners and who were the holiday losers in a few select areas including teen fashion and a mixture of popular department stores.
Join me in this edition of Retail Rap and as always, I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Retail Rap: The Brandscape Ahead
While there were some reported ups and downs over the course of last year’s holiday shopping season, the early takeaway is that the season was, in the end, positive. While we’ll have to wait for hard numbers for more detailed insight, and while definitive conclusions might be a bit much to draw at this point, it does seem to me, as discussed in this edition of Retail Rap, like the increased length of the ever-expanding holiday shopping season didn’t have any appreciable negative impact. Regardless of the final sales numbers, that’s at least one positive development we can take away — and, given the way the season seems to grow every year, it might be an important one.
Perhaps the biggest factor impacting brick and mortar in 2015 and beyond is neither a positive nor a negative — at least not yet. It is a challenge, an unanswered question with a lot riding on the industry’s collective response: can retailers successfully optimize sales over all distribution channels?
Join me in the latest installment of Retail Rap to discuss the the positive developments that are seemingly unfolding for brick-and-mortar retail this year, and let me know what you think, as well.
Retail Rap: Stocking Stuffers
With 2014 almost over, another holiday shopping season is drawing to a close. The looming question on everyone’s mind, of course, is whether holiday sales managed to live up to the (mostly) positive holiday forecasts from analysts and retail organizations.
As I mentioned in a previous column in Retail Rap, Black Friday landed with a resounding thud, failing to meet expectations and surprising most observers with underwhelming numbers. Given the fact that we didn’t see what we expected on Black Friday (and that the weeks since have been decent, but not remarkable), it seems like our post-season analysis will discover that the last week before Christmas—particularly the last pre-Christmas shopping weekend—will have been enormously important, and ultimately defining.
In this edition of Retail Rap, I discuss things that caught my eye during the holiday shopping season that I found particularly interesting, including discount dynamics, sector surprises, department storing and more.
