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Big Box Retail Market Remains Healthy

SEATTLE, WA-Whether redeveloping, leasing or building to suit, Ruggerio paints a picture of a very active big-box market, but one where companies are paying close attention to the bottom line and staying lean when it comes to paying for space.

By Janet Parker | Updated on January 10, 2002

SEATTLE, WA-The big-box retail market is “absolutely as strong as ever” says Steve Ruggerio of First American Properties. However, he conditions that statement with, “But tenants aren’t just willing to pay anything–competition is fierce, and the deals have to make economic sense.”

Ruggerio discussed with GlobeSt the recent press received by The Good Guys, an electronics retailer that is considering closing down several Puget Sound stores. “Everybody likes to focus on the ‘oh, no’ of a chain going away. They forget that when you see companies like Home Base, Ernst and The Good Guys leaving the market, the dollars that were being spent there are being redistributed to better retailers–they don’t just go down a hole.”

Ruggerio, a broker with the Poulsbo-based First American Properties, represents a number of large retailers in Washington, including Circuit City, a competitor of The Good Guys, which has announced several store closings in the region. He says ill-conceived plans and over-extension are the cause of many of the “corpses in the rear-view mirror. Some companies, he offers, are now struggling because they leveraged themselves too far and don’t have the sales to cover their costs, including pricey leases.

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