"Far more than the health of the consumer are the available sales in the market and what [retailers] think they can get in terms of those sales," says Scott Wolstein, DDR's chairman and chief executive officer. "What people don't understand is that there are a lot of sales to be had."

Wolstein points to retailers like Wal-Mart and Target that have major annual expansion plans as evidence. He also says that major consolidations and store closings in the department- and grocery-store sectors have cleared the way for different types of retailers to open new doors.

The trend of private-equity firms buying public retail companies, as is happening with Petco, Lord & Taylor and others, "may obscure operational transparency" at those companies, Wolstein says. But those equity firms cal also "make rapid and efficient improvements to business strategy," he says.