Remember when the Internet’s biggest proponents began to make bold assertions that brick-and-mortar stores and print magazines would become a thing of the past? In 2016, we beg to differ.
In fact, with the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon convention expected to bring 36,000 attendees to Las Vegas in the next few weeks, we felt it was the perfect time for The Real Deal’s first National Retail Market Report.
We surveyed the country’s often vibrant, sometimes fading and always complicated retail property markets and spoke with dozens of developers, brokers, analysts and other players about the latest industry changes.
On the ownership front, we surveyed the work of David Simon of Simon Property Group, the country’s largest mall operator, and his growing bet on the death of the anchor tenant. We also took an in-depth look at other major retail REITs and which ones are poised for growth in the months ahead.
On the geographic side, we analyzed the biggest retail developments across the nation, the most expensive shopping districts and some of the cities rapidly evolving to meet the needs of power-shopping millennials.
We ranked the most active retail brokerages and when we sized up the biggest property owners, we learned that while REITs and private equity firms often run the show, three major stores own the most retail square footage throughout the U.S.
TRD also linked up with Mark Schindele, Target’s senior vice president of properties, to hear about the chain store’s latest real estate plans, and sat down with John Bricker, creative director at the New York-based architecture firm Gensler, to talk about the shifts in retail design trends in 2016.
To top it off, we looked at how brands with celebrity power behind them are branching out into surprising areas.
Check out the full National Retail Market Report here.