Barbra Murray / Commercial Property Executive – Experts in the retail sector of the commercial real estate industry believe it’s going to be a good holiday season–a really good holiday season. They can practically smell it.

“I believe this will be the best Black Friday weekend and Christmas season in the last seven years. The reason being that there’s a lot of optimism in the air,” Greg Maloney, president & CEO of commercial real estate services firm JLL’s Americas Retail Group, told Commercial Property Executive. “The consumer confidence index is at an all-time high since late 2007. People are feeling better. Gas prices are down. There’s just this air of excitement of people thinking things are better. Maybe they’re not but people want to believe that they are.”