Retailers look to return to Main Street storefronts
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By Jim Turner
Posted at 08:39 AM on October 22, 2007
Retail owners are looking for more traditional, downtown Main Street, settings rather than the mall, according to a National Retail Federation study released Friday.
However, the majority of small businesses can still be found in the confines of a mall.
The study, which surveyed 43 retail real estate executives, found that retailers plan to have 11 percent of their stores in urban street-front locations by the end of year, compared with 8 percent last year.
To compensate, companies have cut back slightly on their number of mall and strip mall locations - 44 percent this year vs. 48 percent last year.
There is also good news for companies such as Trotman Co., which plans to build a high-end open-air lifestyle center on U.S. 1 in south Stuart. The survey found that retailers are continuing to move toward lifestyle centers, with 9 percent of company stores in that format compared with eight percent last year.
"Urban storefronts are beginning to play an increasingly important role in retailers' real estate strategies," stated Carleen Kohut, NRF Chief Financial Officer and the manager of NRF's Real Estate Executives Council. "Throughout the country, traditional main streets are being revitalized to include an assortment of new retail shops, from department and clothing stores to coffee shops."
Of course, all this desire to be in a downtown setting, remains influenced by who is heading downtown.
Half of the respondents to the survey - some might say the more forward looking half - stated that traffic patterns and future population numbers are used to determine where to locate their businesses.
Posted at 08:39 AM on October 22, 2007
Retail owners are looking for more traditional, downtown Main Street, settings rather than the mall, according to a National Retail Federation study released Friday.
However, the majority of small businesses can still be found in the confines of a mall.
The study, which surveyed 43 retail real estate executives, found that retailers plan to have 11 percent of their stores in urban street-front locations by the end of year, compared with 8 percent last year.
To compensate, companies have cut back slightly on their number of mall and strip mall locations - 44 percent this year vs. 48 percent last year.
There is also good news for companies such as Trotman Co., which plans to build a high-end open-air lifestyle center on U.S. 1 in south Stuart. The survey found that retailers are continuing to move toward lifestyle centers, with 9 percent of company stores in that format compared with eight percent last year.
"Urban storefronts are beginning to play an increasingly important role in retailers' real estate strategies," stated Carleen Kohut, NRF Chief Financial Officer and the manager of NRF's Real Estate Executives Council. "Throughout the country, traditional main streets are being revitalized to include an assortment of new retail shops, from department and clothing stores to coffee shops."
Of course, all this desire to be in a downtown setting, remains influenced by who is heading downtown.
Half of the respondents to the survey - some might say the more forward looking half - stated that traffic patterns and future population numbers are used to determine where to locate their businesses.
