Category: Retail
Top 12 Innovative Retail Marketing Trends
Attention retailers! Interesting article to share about the top 12 innovative retail marketing trends. Prior to March 2020, the industry saw a consistent increase in online shopping for more than a decade. Retailers also saw cyber purchases accelerate exponentially during the pandemic. A recent study uncovered more than 40% of customers who...
Considerations for Converting Dark Stores to Industrial
Recorded by JLLWatch the recording here. Goulston & Storrs real estate attorney, David Rabinowitz was featured in a live podcast, "Considerations for Converting Dark Stores to Industrial". This was part of JLL's Where We Buy podcast series, which focuses on the latest topics affecting retail and industrial real estate as product and distribution become one...
Five Takeaways from the BBA Webinar on the State of Retail and Hospitality During COVID
Boston Bar Association WebinarOn November 13th, the Boston Bar Association hosted Uncharted Territory: Challenges Facing Retail, Hospitality Sectors and their Landlords . The live webinar featured Richard Heller, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Legal Sea Foods, Joseph Wang, a partner in Boston-based Sherin and Lodgen LLP’s Hospitality Practice Group and...
As the “Legal” World Turns – Lessons Learned From ICSC Law Conference 2020
Last month, not only did the International Council of Shopping Center (ICSC) host its 50 th U.S. Law Conference, but, for the first time in its history, it did so virtually due to the impact of COVID-19! While some attendees were a bit apprehensive of how it would all...
ICSC Law Conference 2020 – 50th Anniversary Edition
This year, the ICSC Law Conference on October 14-16 celebrated its 50 th Anniversary. The planned pomp and circumstance were eliminated due to COVID-19, but the conference was still held using a virtual platform. While less than typical in-person attendance, there was still an impressive number of attendees, reaching...
Bankrupt Retailers Seek Extraordinary Relief in Time of COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced big-name brands to pursue unique strategies to secure fiscal relief. Even prior to the pandemic’s outbreak, certain retailers experienced financial difficulties and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The pandemic only exacerbated retailers’ difficulties by effectively shuttering stores nationwide, thus halting certain retailers’ “going out...
Straightening Their Tenants' Ties: Retail Property Owners Are Buying Distressed Retailers Out of Bankruptcy
Since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S., it has been a recurring theme to turn on the news and see that yet another big-name retailer is rumored to be on the brink of filing, or has already filed, for bankruptcy. Many well-known brands many of...
Last Minute Shifts to Last-Mile Delivery Centers: Considerations for Retail Landlords
Owners of shopping centers and other retail spaces are again increasingly looking to novel uses, including distribution and warehouse uses , sometimes called “fulfillment centers”, to fill growing vacancies. These emerging uses raise a number of potential legal issues. The retail industry is undergoing what appears to be a...
Court Partially Excuses Tenant’s Rent Obligations During COVID Shutdown
In the social and economic fallout from COVID, businesses are assessing how best to address their commercial relationships, especially where potentially insurmountable barriers to performance loom large. One clause that concerns performance impossibility has gained increasing recognition in this crisis. “Force majeure” contract clauses long have existed in contracts. Largely...
Avoiding Coronavirus Discrimination Claims in Retail and Hospitality
On the 30 th anniversary of its passage, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) deserves recognition for its continued viability and adaptability in response to contemporary problems and technological change. As the retail and hospitality industries reopen and expand operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, an important component of those...
As States Lift Restrictions, Retailers are Trapped on the ‘Leading Edge’
The avalanche began in an unlikely setting, for avalanches at least: Chesapeake Energy Arena, home to the National Basketball Association’s Oklahoma City Thunder, where the home team was set to play the Utah Jazz on the evening of March 11, 2020. That game was canceled minutes before tipoff upon...
COVID-19 Safety Checklist for Reopening Your Workplace
Step 1: Prepare for employees to return to the workplace. Assess the risk level of your workplace according to OSHA Guidelines. Lower exposure risk (caution) jobs are those that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2 nor frequent close contact...
Coronavirus: Impact on the Retail Industry
Coronavirus Disease 2019 or “ COVID-19 ” continues to dominate national and international discussion. News outlets in Boston , New York , London , Mumbai , Rio de Janeiro , Tokyo , and every other city and town in the world continue to post and print stories related to spread of...
An Unintended Interruption to the Global Supply Chain
The current outbreak of COVID-19 (the coronavirus) will be a test of the global supply chain’s strength in the face of unintended interruptions, and can be a lesson on building-in supply-chain contingency plans. As a result of COVID-19, many factories in China, which supply the bulk or all goods...
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...
Now Trending - Amazon’s Brick and Mortar Expansion of New Concept Stores
Although online shopping is extremely convenient, many consumers still want to touch and test out products before they purchase them. Since 2015, Amazon, with its first brick and mortar Amazon Books store, has made its way out from behind its consumers’ smart phones and onto their street corners to give...
The Future of Online Shopping Is Social
Social media has a well-established position in the retail industry. Brands and retailers have mastered digital and social media tools to engage their target market throughout the customer journey, from awareness, engagement, purchase and well beyond purchase. These advancements in technology have spurred a growing trend in retail: social...
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...
Sustainable Fashion – A G&S Panel Discussion
Introduction On January 13, 2020, Goulston & Storrs PC hosted a panel discussion featuring leaders in the fashion industry’s movement towards more sustainable practices. The panel was organized by Jen Furey, a member of Goulston & Storrs PC’s retail group, and Ana Gonzalez Herrera, the founder of the boutique...
What can Amazon do for you?
Economists and industry experts – and the data – agree on little when it comes to holiday sales. In December, a mere ten days after the National Retail Federation proclaimed that a record 190 million consumers shopped over the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – up 14...
2019 Holiday Season Retail Sales Wrap-Up
The holidays are a hectic time for a lot of different reasons. One thing that remains constant through the chaos of work events, family gatherings, and inclement weather is the hustle and bustle of the retail world. This post will feature a summary of some key findings in the...
The 2019 ICSC New York Deal Making Conference and The Ever-Evolving Retail Scene
The ICSC New York Deal Making Conference (“NYDM”) was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from December 10-12 and had more than 9,600 registered attendees. This year, ICSC offered much more content than at prior NYDM conferences. Over the course of 3 days, there were a total of...
The Nightmare Before Christmas?
Gift Card Litigation Arrives for the HolidaysIt is a little-known fact that, in 1994, Blockbuster video was the first store to display pre-paid gift cards for sale. Unlike VHS rentals, the gift card industry has only grown in popularity. Gift cards from major retailers are at the top of many holiday wish lists. Considered a...
Unconscious Bias in the Retail World
Last week, in our highlights of the 49 th ICSC U.S. Law Conference , we touched on Dr. Mahzarin R. Banaji ’s keynote presentation, where she discussed unconscious bias and how it affects everyone. She has also co-authored a book entitled Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People discussing these...
2019 ICSC Law Conference Recap
Last week, over 1,500 members of the retail law industry came together at this year’s 49 th International Council of Shopping Center (ICSC) U.S. Law Conference that was held in San Diego from October 23 through October 25, 2019. Those in attendance ranged from counsel from outside law firms...
Go Mega-Mall or Go Home?
New Jersey’s American Dream “Immersive Consumption” Mall Opening after 23 YearsWhile increased occurrences of retail store closures and predictions about the death of the shopping mall are causing mall owners to consider downsizing or repurposing their space away from consumer-facing retail and toward e-commerce fulfillment centers or industrial uses, the developers behind New Jersey’s American Dream Mall, a three...
Retail-to-Industrial Conversions: Revolution or Niche Trend?
It may have been unthinkable ten to fifteen years ago, but the shift in consumer shopping patterns from brick-and-mortar stores to online platforms has resulted in the emergence of retail-to-industrial conversions over the past few years. With lower demand for retail space in many markets, several developers and major...
“Retail Apocalypse: The End – Or A New Beginning?”
The last several years have been treacherous for the retail sector. Changing shopping patterns and shifting demographics have led some commentators to declare that the (retail) apocalypse is upon us . And while we have seen numerous mega-bankruptcies, including Sears, Toys ‘R Us, Borders, Payless Shoes and Radio Shack...
What’s Old is New Again: Department Stores Partner with Online-Only Secondhand Apparel Companies
Apparel merchandisers are predicting that resale will soon become a force in the industry and retailers are beginning to take notice. Increasingly, young shoppers are turning to online, resale and rental for their clothing needs and department stores are currently experimenting with offering secondhand apparel as a way to...
REIT Issues for Retail Leasing Professionals
As retail leasing continues to evolve, real estate investment trust (REIT) landlords, retail tenants and the business / advisory teams on both sides will want to ensure that REIT issues are surfaced and negotiated before the lease is signed, averting unpleasant surprises and renegotiations down the road. With proper...
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