Several quotes come to mind when summing up the current state of the retail business – “bend but don’t break”, “down but not out” and “The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated”. Despite the widely held panic that Amazon and its online comrades have sounded the death knell for the traditional shopping center, the current reality is that retail is very much alive, albeit different and evolving.
I have spoken to dozens of brokers and developers, and I personally represent many of the retail developers in our area, and everyone is busy. From my perspective – and you can find countless viewpoints by simply doing a quick Google search – there are several reasons that retail is weathering the online storm.