Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/436832
o t o n l y a r e t h i s y e a r ' s e x p a n d i n g retailers scrambling to keep pace with the fastest-changing industry landscape in history, they are also squaring off against increasing numbers of global competitors. absent from most of today's business models are any expansion-by-saturation strate- gies and the old cookie-cutter store formats; in their place are microdemographic site selection, creative use of smaller spaces and multichannel digital presentations. N a ton oF BriCKs about 70 percent of the world's chains are adding stores this year, offering a big endorsement of physical retail By Steve McLinden J a n u a r y 2 0 1 5 / S C T 23 armed with these new approaches and working from a relatively robust 2014, retailers and restaurateurs are projecting their expansion visions and initiatives worldwide, observers say. "the world of retail is changing quite dramatically," said Michael hirschfeld, senior vice presi- dent of national retail tenant services at third-party mall management firm Jll. improvements in distribution channels and web offerings are giving tenants broader geographic and branding opportunities, he says. "some of our smaller, emerging clients may go into the U.s. West Coast with their first stores, but may choose london for their second, and tokyo for their third." about 70 percent of retailers have plans to open brick-and-mortar stores this year, according to a deloitte survey. rBC Capital Markets said in november that the 2,000 retailers in its database indicated they would open nearly 78,000 stores over the following 24 months — an increase of 0.7 percent over the figures projected at year-end 2013. the retail sector likely to see the greatest jump in store openings over the period is men's apparel, which boasts nearly 400 stores in the pipeline, an increase of about 3 percent. lingerie shops also have some ambitious expansion plans, with 76 additional stores in the planning stage, similarly an increase of nearly 3 percent. the store openings include a growing number of online retailers moving into their first physi- cal stores, according to retail consultant Jeff green, who heads an eponymous firm in phoenix. among these is amazon.com, which will roll out its brick-and-mortar concept in new york City,