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:
- Mixed-Use
We have seen a marked increase in mixed-use projects, wherein a large property is used for different purposes that are integrated in one parcel of land. An increasing number of existing retail-only developments are being converted to include office and residential uses.
- Parking
There are going to be fewer parking spaces per square foot of retail space in the future than there have been in the past. Different uses in mixed spaces require different amounts of parking and they each peak at different hours of the day (and even on different days of the week). The growth of ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft has allowed more consumers to arrive at stores without their own cars.
- Lease Terms
In the past, “pop-up shops” meant Halloween or other temporary concepts, and were thought of as undesirable. Now they’re much more interesting to landlords because they often serve as incubator spaces for launching new businesses or for foreign brands venturing into the U.S. market. They offer something new and different and can help drive traffic. As pop-ups proliferate, landlords will need to accommodate the shorter-term leases implied by this new model.
For more articles by Richard Kestenbaum, please click here.
