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3 weeks ago | 
chainstoreage.com | Kristin Mueller |Sean McNamara
Kristin Mueller and Sean McNamara from JLL. In the latter half of the 20th Century, top retail brands left bustling downtowns and took up shop in mega-malls that drew demographically divergent customers from 10 to 20 miles away. Thriving mall developers were able to rely on building plans and tenant curations that worked as well in Boston or Los Angeles as they did in Grand Rapids or Knoxville.
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Dec 23, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
Retailers are fighting for the costumers — and therefore income — every single day. This is especially true during the holiday season. This year, shoppers are reportedly planning to spend $1,449 per person, 36% above initial holiday spending estimates in September. While more shopping activity is great news, brick-and-mortar retailers are contending with other storefronts, both physical and virtual, to capture shoppers and their dollars.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
Once upon a time, holiday shopping used to be a sprint — shoppers lining up at dawn on Black Friday, braving the crowds to snag that perfect holiday deal. Today, the holiday shopping season feels more like a marathon, with 'deal days' stretching from first week in October to Christmas. The trend is transforming not only how people shop, but also how retail property managers operate.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
When online shopping affected the traditional department-store-led shopping mall, the food courts and movie theaters hung on. Property managers and developers took note, expanding their food and beverage footprint and courting more entertainment-oriented merchants like escape rooms and axe throwing facilities. In this way, the focus of many retail centers has gone from what we wear, to what we eat, to what we do.
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Sep 17, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
Luxury retail is making a surprising comeback, but this time in an unexpected place — malls. Nearly half of all new luxury store openings within the past year were in malls, according to the latest JLL Luxury Report.
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Jul 17, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
As students wrap up their summer activities and prepare to hit the books again, parents across the country are gearing up for the annual back-to-school shopping spree. This year, retail property managers have a golden opportunity to capitalize on this seasonal surge by understanding key shopping trends and leveraging them with their retail tenants. Here are the top 10 takeaways from the latest JLL Back to School Shopping Survey 2024. 1.
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Jul 2, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
Mixed-use properties are on the rise as office buildings and indoor shopping malls are reimagined into new and extended uses, including adding residential and hospitality to existing properties. But just because a property has a variety of uses doesn’t mean that a sense of belonging and community will naturally arise for tenants and visitors.
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Mar 20, 2024 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
The substantial growth of social media in the last two decades has amplified the power of the influencer: a person with status, celebrity, and authority to affect trends and purchasing decisions of their followers. But these shoppers—and the brands that are trying to reach them—aren’t limited to the tastes and preferences of human influencers. The is here, resulting in AI-generated avatars that look, sound, and act like people—with their own (programmed) personalities and preferences.
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Nov 7, 2023 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
As malls across the country prepare for the holiday season, Gen Z shoppers are emerging as a significant force in the shopping landscape. According to “The Rise of the Gen Z Consumer,” report from ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers), Gen Z’s unique preferences and behaviors are not only shaping the retail industry but also having a profound impact on the economy.
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Jul 20, 2023 | 
forbes.com | Kristin Mueller
At this point, the U.S. housing crisis is well documented. The nation is short some 6.5 million homes, and developers can’t seem to build fast enough to meet the demand. Experts expected rising interest rates to exacerbate the housing shortage by stalling development activity and further throwing off the housing supply-demand pendulum—but in May, there was some good news. U.S. homebuilding surged, rising 22% despite expectations that new construction activity would decrease.
