As I was preparing to write this week's column I began by focusing on the big news this weekend that "E-Tailers" online sales trumped brick and mortar malls. On Thanksgiving and Black Friday, consumers spent an estimated $4.5 billion online with sales rising 14% from one year ago, and half of these sales came from mobile devices. To provide some perspective on these statistics, for the same period shoppers spent $12.1 billion at "traditional" stores, a decline from last year.

This is unfortunate news for landlords as the online assault on the shopping mall continues. This is truly a megatrend issue, but a bigger shorter term story is the heat wave that has gripped most of the northern US cold belt. October and November have been the warmest on record, and today I spoke to a retail executive from one of the major national retailers who reported that winter coats, sweaters, UGG boots, gloves, scarves, mittens and other woolies, are all gathering dust on retailers racks and shelves.

Unless a polar vortex is unleashed soon (like in the next week or two before Christmas), the real story this season will be the fall heatwave. He also reported that there has been a run on bathing suits as plans are shifting to holiday vacations "on the beach." Alas, there are no bathing suits on the shelves.