News and Events
Focus On: Site Selection
Experts weigh in on optimizing existing sites.
Feb 15, 2010 Chain Store Age Katherine Field
As store expansion slows, retail site selection activities have decelerated in kind. To keep sales from stalling, most real estate departments have turned their attentions to optimizing the sites they have.
Chain Store Age talked with four retail real estate experts and asked them to provide a watch list of sorts—trends and activities to keep an eye on throughout 2010.
What retail real estate trends, with regard to site-selection/optimization, should we expect to see play out in 2010? Ivan Friedman, president and CEO, RCS Real Estate Advisors, New York City: Similar to 2009, we’re going to see a number of retailers optimizing their real estate assets in 2010. The result will be more negotiating of existing leases and, in some cases, more vacant spaces at low prices on the market. What this means is that the healthier, growing retailers will continue to take advantage of leasing these vacant spaces at a fraction of the price they would have previously.