Restaurants Prepare for a Tough Holiday

As retail centers brace for slower holiday traffic, so are their eatery tenants, says this WSJ article.Sure, what chains aren’t suffering, restaurants or not? But one analyst, Oppenheimer & Co.’s Matthew DiFrisco points out something we hadn’t fully considered: “They live off the flow of traffic going to lifestyle centers and malls, and are trying to intercept you while you’re out shopping.” We had always thought that shopping-center owners, especially mall landlords, signed tenants such as California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory and Kona Grill because they would bring traffic that wasn’t already there shopping.Either way, traffic is down everywhere, and consumers are spending less, so why would restaurants be any different? Or do you see some silver lining for non fast-food chains?