Blog Posts: Retail Law Advisor
Visit the Full BlogThis blog keeps you connected to timely developments and emerging issues in retail law and covers a wide range of topics related to the retail, restaurant and consumer industry. We invite you to learn more about Goulston & Storrs and our Retail, Restaurant & Consumer Group.
Retail Evolution: Continuing to Think Outside of the Box
In a prior blog, we discussed partnerships between retailers and hotel chains as a strategy for providing customers with an interactive experience and staying competitive in the market. This trend has continued and is further evolving. Retailers are bringing the store to the consumer and inventing new and creative...
Let’s Get Innovative!
Using short term deals to solve long term problems.
There continues to be a lot of discussion throughout the commercial real estate industry about competition from online retailers and the holes created by failing and downsizing businesses that have traditionally focused on brick and mortar stores. While concern about the retail apocalypse continues to loom, developers are finding...
We’re Here for the Food Hall Party
Time to Eat, Drink and Socialize!
If you haven’t eaten at a food hall yet… it is likely only a matter of time before you do. They are popping up all over the country and are gaining popularity. Unlike traditional mall food courts, food halls typically include higher end and trendy concepts all within one...
ICSC RECON 2019: In Pursuit of Innovation
The Las Vegas Convention Center hosted ICSC RECon 2019 this week from May 19-22. This year’s conference was held under the motto “Less traditional. More Innovative”, reflective of the dynamic changes taking place in the retail real estate industry. True to this motto, the future of retail was on...
Three Trends Driving Consumer Behavior in the Retail Real Estate Business
Goulston & Storrs partners Nancy Davids, Matt Epstein, Karen O’Malley and David Rabinowitz recently sat down with Forbes to discuss how changes in consumer behavior continue to drive evolution in the retail real estate business. The group identified three key trends through a collaborative discussion with Forbes contributor Richard Kestenbaum...
International Council of Shopping Centers New England Conference and Deal Making
ICSC hosted the New England Conference and Deal Making event at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center last week, from July 16-18. Given the summer timing of the conference, attendance appeared light at times, but conference attendees reported busy schedules and productive meetings. A number of attendees...
ICSC RECon 2018--Stepping Into the Future
The Las Vegas Convention Center hosted ICSC RECon 2018 last week from May 20-23. Upon their entry into the Convention Center’s Central Hall, this year’s RECon attendees were greeted by the ICSC Innovation Exchange. This interactive exhibit showcased a broad range of new technologies, including autonomous security systems, digital...
ICSC RECon In Full Swing
ICSC is in full swing at the Las Vegas Convention Center this week. This is the world's largest gathering of retail real estate professionals. With 37,000 industry professionals and 1200 exhibitors, it promises to be an amazing week. Last year, the mood at the convention was largely positive despite the...
Bankruptcy Lease Auctions – Landlords Can Play Too
Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in September 2017, with hopes that a strong holiday season would facilitate a successful reorganization. After holiday sales proved to be far less lucrative than the company and its professionals had hoped, the announcement was recently made that the company would commence store...
Facial Recognition in Retail: "Attention all Shoppers: We Already Know Everything about You"
Are you worried that “Alexa” is listening to your conversations? Do you cover your laptop camera with tape and refuse to store your passwords on your devices? Well, it looks like even stepping into the mall may require full-body armor if you wish to keep your basic data truly...
Foreign Retailers Entering New Markets: Finding A Home Of One’s Own
The first task facing a retailer entering a new market? To find its customer. This chore takes on more significance for foreign retailers venturing into a complex, expansive and heterogeneous market such as the United States. Depending upon the soundness of the choice, the proverbial pot at the end of...
ICSC New York Deal Making (2017)
On December 6-7, the Javits Center played host to this years’ ICSC NY Deal Making Conference. ICSC featured a new format at this years’ Conference. In addition to the deal making opportunities on Wednesday and Thursday, ICSC partnered with retailers and leading real estate companies to present several hour...
2017 ICSC US Shopping Center Law Conference
San Antonio was host to this year’s ICSC US Shopping Center Law Conference, which occurred from October 25 through October 28, 2017. In-house counsel, counsel from outside law firms, tenant’s lawyers, landlord’s counsel, paralegals, lease administrators and others involved in the retail business came together to discuss the changes...
Retailers to the Rescue
Hurricane Harvey has traumatized southeastern Texas. With unprecedented rainfall, there are many people who need urgent help. The competitive retail market can be difficult and wonderful all at the same time. We see (time and time again) that when human needs emerge, retailers are often among the first to...
ICSC Deal Making Conference Explores the Changing Retail Industry
The ICSC New England Conference & Deal Making was held from July 18 through July 20, 2017 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Registered attendance at the Conference was strong again this year, with over 1,200 people registered for the show. The sessions on the opening day of the...
Boutique Retail Hotels: Introducing The New Meaning Of “In Room” Shopping
In this ever changing world, retailers are continuing to invent new ways to highlight their products, provide customers with an interactive experience and to stay competitive. We have previously discussed strategies used by brick and mortar stores to compete with their online counterparts, but retailers know that they need...
When in Rome: Our Take on the ICSC OAC (Open Air Summit)
We know from our high school history lessons that large scale public shopping centers have been around since the days of the Roman Empire, if not before. The fabled open air markets of cities like Istanbul and Damascus still exist today and are often the backdrop of our favorite...
Oh the Sidewalks Outside Are Frightful, But Landlords Will Make Them Delightful… or Will They?
Although we haven’t seen much snow accumulation in the northeast to date, we know that this can (and likely will) change before the warmer weather returns. Before the snow really begins to fall, it would behoove both landlords and tenants to become informed about their snow clearing responsibilities and...
Amazon Go: Let's Get (More) Physical
We recently noted that among the latest e-tail trends is the expansion of once exclusively online retail operations into physical store locations. In-store sales continue to dominate over online sales, with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that online sales in the third quarter of 2016 accounted for only about...
Coming to a Retailer Near You: Made in USA Labeling Requirements
Patriotism is a hot topic in the United States. One study shows 51% of American consumers will pay higher prices to buy American made products. Not surprisingly, manufacturers actively promote products with the red, white and blue labels proudly proclaiming “Made in USA” to capture those consumers. In fact...
Industry-Wide Confidence Shines Through At ICSC’s 2016 Law Conference
The 2016 ICSC Law Conference was held last week at the Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, Florida. Attendance was very strong this year, with over 1425 lawyers, paralegals, lease administrators, brokers and other retail real estate professionals attending. The strong participation seems to reflect wider confidence in our industry, with...
The Power of Pop-ups: From Fad to Retail Mainstay
Pop-up stores or “flash retail” have graduated from passing trend to popular practice. Historically utilized for the sale of seasonal products (think temporary stores that only sell Halloween costumes), the pop-up has evolved into an attractive option for retailers of all shapes, sizes and experience. Smaller, emerging companies have...
The Future of Retail: Brick and Mortar!
If you believe the hype, it is only a matter of time before brick and mortar retail succumbs to its online competitors. Recent decisions made by several stalwart retailers appear to support this theory: Macy’s recently announced that it would close 15% of its stores, The Sports Authority and...
No Cash? No Problem: The Emergence of Cashless Retailers
From the time we were little, putting birthday money into our piggy banks, cash has always been an important part of our lives. Now, imagine a world where cash is no longer king. Like so many other things that we thought were futuristic, a cashless society is becoming more...
ICSC’s New England Idea Exchange Draws a Crowd to Talk Shop
The Hynes Convention Center hosted the ICSC New England Deal Making Conference in Boston last week from July 19 through July 21. ICSC announced that attendance was at an all-time high of about 1,200 people. The conference kicked-off with several social activities, including the golf tournament, the new sporting...
Are Prohibited Uses Prohibiting Opportunity?
Despite how it may sometimes seem when in the throes of negotiating a lease between a shopping center landlord and a retail tenant, the overarching goals of the two parties are aligned. Both parties want the tenant to be successful and want the landlord’s shopping center to be active...
Retailers’ On-Call Scheduling Practices Under Scrutiny in Eight States and D.C.
On April 12, 2016, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters to fifteen retailers requesting information regarding their use of “on-call shifts” in scheduling employees. The letters were similar to those letters sent by the New York Attorney General in April, 2015 with a critical difference – the...
ICSC RECon 2016 – Holding Court
ICSC RECon 2016 tipped off with a keynote address by Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises and former NBA superstar. Attendance was up by about 2.7 percent from last year, with around 36,000 attendees, representing the more than 1,100 companies that registered for the sold...
New Lease Accounting Rules Are Final: Retailers and, Ultimately, Landlords Can Expect Changes
We recently wrote about expected changes to the rules governing the way leases are accounted for on balance sheets and suggested the changes would have major implications for retailer tenants and longer term implications for landlords. Late last week, as expected, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued a suite...
ICSC 2015 National Deal Making – Bigger, Better And Back At The Javits Center
This is the second year that the New York ICSC has been held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center , and no one is pining for the old venue. Attendance was up, perhaps breaking 10,000, which would be an all time record. The mood of the crowd was...
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