Are You an Internet Resistant Retailer?
Surrounding the ICSC RECon event here in Las Vegas, GlobeSt.com caught up with Deena Zimmerman, VP and national retail council co-chair of SVN, to talk about one of the biggest trends she is seeing.
GlobeSt.com is providing wall-to-wall coverage of ICSC’s RECon show in Las Vegas May 19-22. Subscribe to the Retail Ticket for pre-event articles, live video interviews on site and post-conference analysis.
LAS VEGAS—“The biggest trend we are tracking is ‘internet resistant’ retailers. Those who can survive, long term, in the brick and mortar space.”
Those thoughts are according to with Deena Zimmerman, VP and national retail council co-chair of SVN, who chatted with GlobeSt.com about all things retail surrounding the ICSC RECon conference happening now in Las Vegas. According to Zimmerman, who specializes in retail tenant representation in addition to assisting clients in purchasing investment properties like Dollar General and value add shopping Centers, fitness users and fast casual restaurants are just hitting their stride.
She tells us that she doesn’t see those users going anywhere “especially when you see boutique fitness (pilates, yoga, spin, etc) and the Planet Fitness and Anytime Fitness’ of the world (just to name a few) have become the darling of any shopping/lifestyle center along with beauty retailers like Ulta, who are also expanding into this space like wildfire, putting up strong quarterly numbers.”
Same goes for fast, casual food, she says. “We are now seeing celebrity chef’s move into the fast casual arena, which makes it even more exciting to be a part of retail right now.”
While a lot of retailers have shuttered their doors, she says she is seeing an influx of just as many coming to the market as the “clicks to bricks” trend continues to pick up. “At some point these successful online retailers have to enter the physical brick and mortar space, which is why I do not believe there is going to be a retail apocalypse.”
She says just the opposite, in fact, and says it is the most exciting time to be in retail. “Discount retail is not slowing down and I believe that Nordstrom Rack may indeed be outpacing Nordstrom. TJ Maxx/Marshalls/Home Goods, Ross Dress for Less, Dollar General, etc.”
Keep checking back with GlobeSt.com for more from experts in the next few days as we fully cover the RECon 2019 event, with thoughts not only from attendees and panelists, but coverage of sessions, parties and more. And check out some related stories below.