DMM Retail Industry e-News Issue #154
What’s Paramus, NJ’s, Retail Secret? Sales Tax-Free Clothing Doesn’t Hurt
More money is spent here than on Rodeo Drive in swanky Beverly Hills. If you guessed that would be on Route 17 or Route 4 in Paramus, NJ, you win. The area close enough to lure New Yorkers to buy clothes that are free of sales tax, but not on Sundays, because retail closes for the day to give weary retail employees 24 hours of rest. A recent article on NJ.com explains how the former farming community has become the place for shopping, and it seems impervious to online trends. “Garden State Plaza alone gets about 20 million visitors per year. Compare that to the number of visitors to the Eiffel Tower (7 million) or the number of annual guests at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom (20.5 million),” writes Allison Pries of NJ Advance Media. Not bad for an area that was once known as “the Celery Capital of the World” prior to the opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931.
“Experiential Retail” Defeats “Retail Apocalypse”
There are always going to be those in the population who argue that the old days were better. They usually do that while sending a text to someone, watching a big-screen TV or heating up dinner taken from their refrigerator in a new-fangled thing called an oven (or shopping at a mall with their cartoon family). People adapt. Successful retailers are doing the same, especially when they implement what is called “experiential retail.” That’s the tech-y way of saying “using technology to help customers.” In a recent article on MyTotalRetail.com, Jaime Bettencourt, Senior Vice-President of Business Development for Mood Media, an in-store media solutions company, offers suggestions for finding ways to “embrace innovation and continuously engage customers.” In-store interactivity, digital apps and plenty of touchscreens and tablets help deliver “functionality for both employees and shoppers alike, interactive tablets create connection and allow for a deeper level of brand awareness and affinity.”
The Yankees? Nah. The Jets? Stay in NJ. We Want Shopping and Dining!
The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, located in an area of the West Side of Manhattan once considered for the Yankees and the Jets to play their respective sports, opened to great fanfare last week. It’s an ambitious project by Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group that is said to be the largest private real estate development in the United States by square footage. Its seven levels and one-million-square-feet of retail was reported to be 85% occupied just before the opening. “Hudson Yards has the advantage of filling in a retail void on the Far West Side, with shops and restaurants that run the gamut from everyday-affordable to high-end luxury,” an article on TheRealDeal.com noted. It is expected to attract more than 24 million people annually and generate $1 billion a year in retail sales.
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DMM e-News - Issue #154
