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Big-Box Retail Market Holds Firm

SEATTLE, WA-Healthy big-box retailers continue to strive for deeper market penetration up and down the Interstate 5 corridor. Steve Ruggiero of First American Properties says activity remains particularly strong in anchored power centers in emerging Puget Sound sub-markets.

By Janet Parker | Updated on March 31, 2002

SEATTLE, WA-The current big-box retail market in the Puget Sound is a “very, very steady” one where vacancies remain low and large chains are looking to penetrate ever deeper into the market, says Steve Ruggiero, owner of Poulsbo-based First American Properties.

While retail deal flow is down, Ruggiero, whose company specializes in representing big-box retailers, says the fact that “companies are paying more attention to the bottom line when structuring their transactions” means the vast majority of today’s transactions are more realistic.

“Interest has been especially strong in markets where these retailers see markets they have yet to enter,” offers Ruggiero, adding, “There are a handful of those markets left in Washington where there aren’t yet the traditional power centers, and they’re working hard to secure locations in them.” He cites cities and town like Longview, Burlington and Wenatchee, with populations of 125,000 to 175,000, as targets of choice.

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