Industry insights, market outlook reports and commercial real estate
news, and trends from the Coldwell
Banker Commercial brand.
Across the United States, there are a number of eyesores that are hard to miss. One of these is the abandonment of shopping malls and other huge “big box” stores that were once industry giants, such as Toys R Us. These types of abandoned buildings are the perfect visual representation of the current shift in the retail landscape – consumers are pulling their dollars from shopping malls and, instead, are spending more and more of their dollars online.
As any commercial real estate professional will tell you, the industry has been witness to a number of changes, being subject to the impacts of the economy, industry trends, market challenges, and more. When looking at commercial real estate, it is crucial to focus not only on generational activity, but also lifestyle trends.
Watching the latest season of Stranger Things, one cannot help but reminisce about the mall in its glory days. In the 1980s, the mall did to Main Street what the internet has done to almost all brick and mortar. All too familiar eye-grabbing headlines have now become commonplace when reading about today’s retail climate. Retailageddon. Mallpocalypse. While there is no doubt that there has been a seismic shift of the retail landscape, all may not be doom and gloom for the favorite teen hangout of the 80s. As retail bankruptcies soar and store closures continue, mall developers and owners are creatively transforming their assets into housing, hotels, and even multi-faceted entertainment venues. The underlying goal is to get people to go back to (what was) the mall.
The following post is from Managing Director of Coldwell Banker Commercial, Daniel Spiegel
Driverless cars are everywhere. Now, the autonomous car trend is spreading across the world. So, we need to prepare for changes that these vehicles could cause. Whether on the road or in your home, driverless cars will begin to affect your day-to-day life.
Expansion of Main Street Retail Through Digitalization
Everyone’s heard the buzz about the death of traditional brick and mortar and the rise of experiential retail. U.S. retail vacancies were at 10.2% at the end of 2018, a marginal increase from 10.0% a year earlier, according to a report from Reis. Current market trends have challenged retail owners and investors with vacancies in retail spaces from areas like Magnificent Mile and Fifth Avenue as well as on Main Street.
In today’s business climate, accurate and relevant information is crucial for success in commercial real estate investing. In other words, if you don’t know the local market, you could be in real trouble. Despite this fact, commercial real estate is a sector favorite among investors, with its relatively strong returns with only minimal to moderate risk.
Retail, the fallen angel of the industry. We have been barraged by negative headlines this past year, of which company has filed for bankruptcy, or which mall is now a ghost town. However is this bleak outlook really true? It seems that experts in the industry think the retail sector is simply in a transitionary period, where evolution is extremely important. The companies that embrace the change and remain creative and innovative need not worry.
A few years ago, the grocery industry seemed like the untouchable horizon. The one market that was safe from e-commerce. How could e-commerce bore its way into an industry with such perishable, fragile and heavy items? Impossible! Then, Amazon; as it often does, introduced Amazon Pantry and Amazon Fresh. These services allowed users to get groceries within 2 hours. However, consumers remained skeptical.