Shopping Centers Today

MAR 2013

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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THE COMMON AREA Is the doctor in? The time is now for shopping center landlords to add more medical-related tenants to the mix, or even to design properties geared toward a hybridization of retail and medical, says Chris Macke, a CBRE analyst, in a report. "This is the key trend facing shopping center owners in the coming decade," Macke wrote in the report. "As the baby boomers age, they will spend more of their money on health care and less on retail." Healthcare spending is projected to increase by about $600 billion over the next three years, according to some estimates. E-commerce growth, by comparison, is expected to be just $100 Technology may be storesÕ best weapon in war with Õnet Consumers around the world are open to shopping both online and in stores, according to an IBM survey of 26,000 shoppers. Some 80 percent of the respondents said they had made their latest nongrocery purchase at a store, and about half said they would return to that store the next time, while some 35 percent said they were unsure which way they would go next. Only 9 percent said they would definitely make future purchases online. Of the eight product categories in the survey, the two most popular for an online shift were consumer electronics and luxury, including jewelry and designer apparel. Nearly a quarter of the respondents said they had "showroomed" — meaning they had intended to buy something in a store A showroom malls can embrace Fixtures Living, a luxury home-products showroom, is now moving into malls. Fixtures Living currently operates three freestanding showrooms in California — in Costa Mesa, Rancho Mirage and San Diego — but also has plans to open this fall at the Westfield UTC mall, San Diego, and in Glendale (Calif.) Galleria. The stores, designed to allow perusal of kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures outside the usual warehouse-type setting, feature vignettes with running water, working ovens and ranges, and fully functional gas grills, refrigeration systems and the like. Westfield is investing $11 million in the UTC store, which will occupy nearly 24,000 square feet on two levels. The store at General Growth Properties' 1.5 million-square-foot Glendale Galleria will also measure 8 SCT / M A R C H 2 0 1 3 billion over that same period. "So what we're talking about is a phenomenon that is six times larger even than e-commerce," Macke wrote. " … [W]e're talking about a concerted effort to attract health care–related tenants like chiropractors, hearing aid centers, medical laboratories, doctors, medical supply stores, you name it." Some retail specialists are already taking systematic approaches to the trend. "One tenant we work with, CareMore, likes to know how many Medicare recipients are in a given area," said Brian Finnegan, senior vice president of leasing and redevelopment at Brixmor Property Group. "Other medical uses want to find out how many beds are in the hospitals close by." Thus, leasing agents are being proactive about medical-related tenants, he says. "I've heard of people going to shows outside of the retail trade — dental conventions, for example — to find nonretail uses." but then bought it online for reasons of price and convenience. The young, the male and the affluent appear most likely to engage in the practice. There seems to be more showroomers in China (which accounted for 26 percent of the surveyed showroomers) and India (13 percent) than in the U.S. (7 percent). Online-only retailers accounted for one-third of the reported showrooming cases. 24,000 square feet. "We're filling a void in the marketplace," said CEO Jeffery R. Sears in a press release. "There's simply no other store in our industry that provides an opportunity to 'test drive' products." The company seeks to expand to other cities.

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