IRVINE, CA—To succeed in retail today, you have to adapt. You have to be unique. You have to think outside the box on how you approach things. That is according to Ryan Chase, principal of S&A Management. Chase, who joined other panelists—and approximately 700 attendees—last week at RealShare Orange County said that the key to success is to make it more of a destination.
“The bottom line is to think outside the box and do something different because there isn't a lot of character, culture, historic buildings etc. in Orange County,” he says. “Orange County is very cookie cutter.”
Peter Moersch, VP of leasing neighborhood and community centers at the Irvine Co., a company that owns about a third of Orange County and is about 98% leased in all of its centers, says that it would be easy to sit on its hands at this point, but that isn't happening. “We are constantly remodeling and reinvigorating our centers,” he said. The Irvine Co. has about five projects going on right now with centers that will be remodeling in the next two years.
Moersch said that “We look at tenants are part of a larger matrix of the whole community. We constantly are forced to re-imagine. How we do that is to not just get the routine tenants. We are constantly seeking new tenants to mix in with tenants people know and love.” Doing that, he added, creates ever-changing centers. Landscape and architecture also always remain a focus, he explained.
Micky Hooks, director of retail leasing, VF of Outdoor and Action Sports Coalition, says that the company, which works with the Vans brand, is opening about 25 stores for the brand in 2015 and 2016. “We are very conscious in where we place our stores in the market,” he said. Regional malls, the right tenant mix and wholesale dealers all figure into this successful brand's location choices, he said.
Steven Craig, CEO of Craig Realty Group, said that the Millennial influence has been getting greater and greater. “We look for individuality and every chance we have to do that in our centers, we do.”
Hooks adds that there is a constant tech upgrade thanks to Millennials, who are buying mobile. “If you aren't adapting, you will die out like a dinosaur.”
The whole idea, according to Moersch, is that “the shopping experience has to be more than a trip. There are a lot of new things out there and you have to feel your way through, but you can't abandon the old customer. Value and experience are the two things we are trying to work in.”
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
