DMM Retail Industry e-News Issue #166
Hope Springs Eternal at Chicagoland Retail & Mixed-Use Conference
Usually when the word “apocalypse” appears in an article about shopping centers, your humble e-newsletter editor casts a skeptical eye before reading the whole thing (rest assured gentle readers, we do this so you don’t have to, unless you want to). Recently at their 10th annual Chicagoland Retail & Mixed-Use Conference, Matt Baker of RE Journals noted that, in his coverage of a panel discussion on the current state of the retail market, this “ain’t no apocalypse” because “Many younger demographics still want to go to physical stores because they want to touch and feel the product, or they want to post to social media. That foot traffic is leading to in-store sales.” During another panel discussion, Dan Hanson, the principal of Mid-America Asset Management, agreed with that sentiment, “We push couponing that is tied to Wi-Fi, for example, so you have to physically be there. Millennials and Gen Z are willing to loiter. We want that—there is a positive correlation with people sticking around.”
Sears: It’s not Your Grandparents’ Store…or is It?
Think of Sears as the old-time general medical practitioner. They cured everything. They had all the answers. Sometimes they even made house calls. That’s not the world of today. Everyone’s a specialist. So are retailers. So, what to do with Sears anchor stores? In the case of an upstate New York project, grandma and grandpa can continue to stay there. The town of Irondequoit, New York, near Rochester, could soon be home to a senior housing and care facility called “Skyview on the Ridge.” The senior center, which is comprised of a $43 million, 157-unit senior apartment development from PathStone Corporation, plus an adult day care center from St. Ann’s Community, is expected to be part of the larger project that includes a mix of retail, office space and a community center. Retailers such as Target, Home Depot, LA Fitness, Staples and more are already nearby, eager to serve an army of new residents and office workers. Chuck Sudo, Senior Housing News, notes, “With the senior population and demand for senior housing guaranteed to grow over the next 20 years, yesterday’s offices, hotels, schools and commercial buildings can be repurposed into the senior housing of tomorrow. Developers are embracing adaptive reuse as a way to combat a lack of available land and rising land costs that make it hard to secure prime sites.”
Millennials Drive Retail Construction Boom in Michigan
In Chesterfield Township in Michigan, about a 45-minute drive north from Detroit, there’s a retail boom going on. There’s a BJ’s Wholesale Club coming. And a Home Goods. The nearby Macomb Mall is going through a revival that has added Dick’s Sporting Goods and At Home, plus eateries and other smaller retailers such as Michaels, H&M and Five Below. What’s the push behind this explosion? The Macomb Daily says it’s the Millennials. They do their homework online, find the product they want and where to find it. “These are people who know exactly what they want. By the time they leave the house they know exactly what they’re buying and where to get it,” said Dr. Kelley Lovati, chief executive officer for the Macomb County Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve done at least 30 grand openings in the last three months.”
Metachat: Geocoding the DMM file
“Location, Location, Location” is the basic mantra of any professional involved in the commercial and retail real estate industries. As providers of comprehensive contact and retail trend information, DMM knows how critical it is to have a visual roadmap of the physical mall location and its surrounding area. We’ve developed a method of capturing geographic and demographic details in order to produce high quality datapoint location and trend demographic dataset products. For more, click here.
DMM e-News - Issue #166