Specialty leasing is a potential growth area for open-air shopping centers in 2020 — but only if retailers actually know about the opportunity to take short-term space at such properties.
Lindsay Major
“There can be some confusion, especially in smaller markets, where local business owners don’t understand that open-air landlords are willing to do temporary, short-term leasing,” said Lindsay Major, senior director of ancillary income at Chicago-based ShopCore Properties.
The company owns about 20 million square feet of real estate, mostly community, power and grocery-anchored shopping centers in the U.S. (Formerly called Excel Trust, ShopCore was acquired by Blackstone in 2015.) Thanks to common areas full of carts and kiosks, everyone knows that specialty leasing is an option at malls. At open-air centers, however, simply getting the word out about specialty leasing can make a big difference, says Major.
“The owner of one clicks-to-bricks boutique started working with us after she spotted MyShop signage in a store window. She had been toying with the idea of having a brick-and-mortar location”
Last March, ShopCore launched a program that it calls MyShop, designed to do precisely that. “Our call volume has increased significantly, and we’re generating more leads and doing more in-line deals,” Major said. “The owner of one clicks-to-bricks boutique started working with us after she spotted MyShop signage in a store window. She had been toying with the idea of having a brick-and-mortar location.”
In addition to using signage, ShopCore relies on Instagram and other online channels to promote the program. Especially in the suburbs, specialty leasing is becoming a bigger part of open-air tenant mixes, Major says, as the likes of Adidas, SmileDirectClub and T-Mobile tour the country to bolster their brands. “Pop-ups have been a popular concept for some time now at lifestyle centers [and in] malls, and in urban areas like SoHo in New York [City], or West Hollywood, in Los Angeles,” Major said. “But we’ve seen even more growth in the suburbs. It has been really exciting for us.”
In the year ahead, Major will be watching to see how the trend evolves. “I’m also interested to watch what happens with store-within-a-store concepts,” she said. “We’ve seen more of that as brands and retailers come together to create in-store pop-ups. It’s everything from Macy’s Story to the Birchbox-Walgreens holiday pop-ups.”
By Joel Groover
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today
