A Dose of Reality... Improving Area Shopping Centers... Trends... details in the latest DMM e-news

Read the January 2016

Spotlight Listing:

Cortana Mall – Baton Rouge, LA

Officials Offer Funds to Help Improve Local Retail Centers

Developers in Kansas are being given the chance – and the incentive – to help improve area shopping centers. The centers are vital to the community, but it's been determined that they could use some assistance, so, The Topeka Capital-Journal has reported, that the White Lakes Shopping Center, the California Crossing retail district, the Deer Creek Shopping Center and the former southeast Topeka Kmart are part of a program that has budgeted $500,000 for developers “to help any of those locations make a comeback.” Officials are using a local sales tax fund to help finance the program. The program would reportedly provide 25 percent in matching funds to developers who invest in any of the locations.

2016 -Trends to Keep Your Eyes On

With many retailers thanking their lucky stars for the new Star Wars film, others are looking ahead as the New Year brings new prognostications for trends in the retail industry. Retail Info Systems news suggests this is the year that deployment of mobile technologies will accelerate and retailers will “expand digital marketing investments.” Canada's Globe and Mail, meanwhile, predicts retailers to the north will more heavily rely on event shopping, such as black Friday (primarily an American tradition). “Value-oriented consumers will respond when companies execute retail events with consistency, good service, deep discounts and heavy promotion.” What trends do you see shaping your year most? Let us know via Twitter!

Robin Report Issues a Dose of Reality for 2016

Sometimes, after the New Year rolls in, some of us need a little splash of water to the face, or a good, long shower to start the year off right. All of us, however, need this article from The Robin Report, a website that covers major topics in the retail apparel and related consumer product industries. In “If It’s a Race to the Bottom, Then Who Really Wins?” posted on The Robin Report's website in December, Nick Graham, the CEO of Nick Graham menswear, put out a call to bring the seemingly never-ending desire to discount everything and instead focus on branding and maximizing a brand's value. Consumers, Graham argues, are “smart enough to know that the price tag on a garment is simply a placeholder for an inevitable discount. By price promoting in this way, we have created an environment that has no end game and is jeopardizing our customers' trust in our brands, it's a game of chicken and we always blink.”