MINNESOTA | MISSOURI | NEBRASKA | OHIO | TENNESSEE | WISCONSIN | THE DAKOTAS | ILLINOIS | INDIANA | IOWA | KANSAS | KENTUCKY | MICHIGAN
W W W. R E J O U R N A L S . C O M
MARCH/APRIL 2022 VOLUME34
ISSUE2
CRE MARKETPLACE PAGE 37: ARCHITECTS/DESIGN-BUILD FIRMS ASSET/PROPERTY MANAGEMENT FIRMS DEVELOPERS MULTIFAMILY FINANCE FIRMS
Did ecommerce and COVID kill experiential retail? Not a chance By By Dan Dan Rafter, Rafter, Editor Editor
R
emember those long-ago days before COVID-19 hit the United States? Back then, retailers were embracing experiences. Offering consumers an experience that they couldn’t get online was one way for brickand-mortar retailers to battle the Amazons of the world. But during the height of the pandemic? Consumers either couldn’t, or were too nervous to, go to indoor golf ranges, adult arcades or high-tech bowling alleys. That led to worries that experiential retail, which had been so strong, would fade away. The fear was that
consumers would be hesitant to gather in indoor spaces even after COVID cases began to fall. The good news? That fear seems to have been misplaced. Across the Midwest, commercial real estate professionals report that experiential retail in their markets has rebounded in the last six to nine months. People are again flocking to fitness centers, are returning, in slower numbers, to movie theaters and are happy to spend their dollars at bowling alleys, indoor golf simulators and trampoline parks. RETAIL (continued on page 22)
RETAIL
Retail Sector Continuing to Heal from Pandemic
By Brandon Svec, CoStar Group, Inc. Like the antagonist from a 1980s horror movie, brick-and-mortar retail is once again remerging from the grave. Following the over expansion of department stores and specialty retailers in the early 2000s, the retail sector found itself over-extended and underperforming as online shopping permeated the daily habits of American consumers. Hundreds of retailers were forced into bankruptcy, while tens of thousands of underperforming stores were closed. With the sector on its heels, many were tolling retail’s bell well before the pandemic dealt retailers their most difficult RETAIL (continued on page 36)
