FEATURE
Partnering Through a Pandemic We have always backed the role physical space will play in the changing relationship between brands, their customers, and the buildings that connect them. Our optimism remains and our resilience allows us to help those we work with play their part in the reinvention of retail real estate.
W
Peter Row
Founding Director Vindico
hich comes first: resilience or optimism?
Does having the resilience to get through the eye of a storm earn you the right to be optimistic, or is optimism a cornerstone of resilience?
We each have a personal perspective pondering this question, for when life inevitably throws us challenges, our own answer will follow. But when an entire industry finds itself in the eye of that storm, finding a collective response becomes transformative. The Vindico team and many of our peers in the Middle East share a decade bookended by market shocks. In the aftermath of the 2009 global financial crisis, resilience preceded optimism through a period of surviving what felt like an existential test. In 2020, as the world wrestles an ongoing pandemic whilst transitioning beyond its economic impact, a seam of optimism has been there throughout. Seeing COVID-19 as an accelerant, rather than a change agent, underpins that optimism. Many facets of the digital and social disruption we have before us were already there. The reinvention of retail real estate that was underway is
Vindico has partnered with 3DWD, a global leader in 3D designed shopfront and hoarding activation.
RETAIL PEOPLE . OCT-DEC 2020 .24
happening faster. So, now we see resilience translating into action - creativity, acceleration, focus and collaboration. What does resilient optimism look like for us? Partnership. With shopping centre projects in our DNA, we have looked across from Dubai to Mumbai watching the organised retail sector find its long-term footing. In August, we launched a partnership with ANAROCK Retail, part of India’s largest independent property services company, to serve Indian shopping centre and airport developers. What started as brand and distribution, extended into a product partnership as we understood how the agility now needed by our shared clients could come from integrated retail leasing and delivery. This month we partnered with 3DWD Creative Services, a global leader in 3D designed shopfront and hoardings specialising in vacancy management. Founder & CEO, Dion Pouw, sought a partner to better serve Middle East retail developers, managers, and brands. A deeper synergy emerged as post-COVID vacancy rates climbed, focus on customer experience sharpened, and our collective client base began to look at how every piece of the retail environment, including the humble hoarding, must make a positive contribution.
