California Centers, a sister publication of Shopping Center Business, recently spoke with Brad Umansky, president of Rancho Cucamonga-based Progressive Real Estate Partners and the newly appointed president of the Retail Brokers Network. As Umansky assumed the volunteer role in May, the nation — and the retail real estate industry — was in the throes of dealing with closures and stay-in-place orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke with the magazine about assuming his role for the network at this time, and how its members are helping each other …
By Ray Balfanz, Outlook Management Group What does Milwaukee bring to mind? Beer? Cheese? TV’s “Happy Days”? Perhaps the city chosen as the site for the 2020 Democratic National Convention? Yes, that’s us — being recognized and happy about it. But since I began penning this piece in March, we’ve experienced a world of change in the realities of group gatherings: We can hardly have 10 people in a group now, let alone thousands of delegates filling our new Fiserv Forum. It’s anybody’s guess how long the multi-trillion-dollar brick-and-mortar retail …
In the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, retail was an almost immediate victim as governors and mayors across the country issued stay-at-home/shelter-in-place directives, forcing many retailers to close their stores for a time and some eventually made the difficult to decision to furlough or layoff their employees. For the first time in history, all 50 states were simultaneously under a federal disaster declaration and 38.5 million jobless claims have been filed in two months, another historic figure. After the initial shock of stores and restaurants closing temporarily or pivoting …
Shlomo Chopp doesn’t mind stepping out of the box and being told his ideas won’t work, or even being slightly outcast as the “village idiot.” He is fine with the naysayers because he knows when he has an idea worth pursuing and one that has the potential to change the way e-retailers grow a physical location. That’s what Chopp has in Anchor Shops, a proposed location within Fashion District Philadelphia where companies can start a physical location without the start-up costs of diving headfirst into a brick-and-mortar. Chopp brought on …
As many as 150,000 to 200,000 restaurants nationwide may never fully reopen again after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, according to estimates from the National Restaurant Association. This represents 15 to 20 percent of all U.S. restaurants. Though the metro Atlanta area’s restaurants have been allowed to reopen their dining rooms for a full two weeks following Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s directives in late April, early indications are that a large swath of operators are choosing to keep them closed and focus on takeout, delivery and catering. Others are making the hard …
Brick-and-mortar retailers in Texas that have found creative ways to develop new income streams and to leverage technology to directly engage their customer bases have proven most resilient in battling the financial headwinds the sector faces as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. A panel of retail real estate professionals in Dallas and Austin spoke to this trend and others during the Texas Retail Reboot webinar, which was held on Thursday, May 7. Shopping Center Business and Texas Real Estate Business, two magazines published by Atlanta-based France Media Inc., hosted the event, which drew more than …
It’s been a rough month and a half for planet Earth, but there are signs of hope. China is returning to normal life as Italy and Spain begin to ease COVID-19 restrictions. The U.S. — the country with most coronavirus-related casualties so far — isn’t at the point of reopening yet, but there are early indications it isn’t far behind. The curve is continuing to flatten — even in hotspots like New York, where Gov. Cuomo announced on April 13 that “it appears we have a plateau.” The COVID-19 infection …
As concerns about coronavirus (COVID-19) mount and the stock market is impacted, Shopping Center Business has compiled a number of retailers that are stepping in to aid in relief efforts. Brooks Brothers Brooks Brothers is converting its American factories to start producing 150,000 masks per day to help protect healthcare workers and others battling the spread of COVID-19. Blenders Eyewear Blenders Eyewear has repurposed a portion of its manufacturing to make safety goggles for health workers in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company will donate 10,000 goggles to Southern California …
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has not only impacted the physical health of humans around the world, but the health of the U.S. economy as well. While the stock market rallied over 11 percent on Tuesday, its biggest jump in nearly 90 years, on news that a federal stimulus bill to rescue the economy from the coronavirus was imminent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was still down 31 percent from its most recent high at the closing bell. Meanwhile, economists say weekly jobless claims — new filings for unemployment insurance — …
With the stock market dropping to lows unprecedented since the Great Recession on Monday and the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic, concerns are now rising regarding coronavirus’ long-term impact on domestic investments. But will the disease have any impact on brick-and-mortar retail? According to a research report from JLL, while retail supply chains have already been affected, the health of retail as a whole depends heavily on how long the pandemic lasts. Certain sectors have already been impacted, and those in the industry can …