Shopping Centers Today

MAR 2015

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

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8 S C T / M a r c h 2 0 1 5 T H E C O M M O N A R E A 2014 was the year of the hamburger Last year was a banner year for burgers, according to research firm NPD Group. U.S. restaurants served up some 9 bil- lion burgers in 2014, up by 3 percent from 2013, NPD says. And the burger's gain is the sandwich's loss — sandwich servings declined by 2 percent year on year in 2014, a loss of some 201 million servings. Grilled-chicken sandwiches, which tend to be burgers' chief competitor, had a challeng- ing year, with a servings decline of 9 percent, or a loss of 129 million servings. Although burgers are typically not a top item ordered at casual-dining restaurants — only 11 percent of casual-dining orders included a burger — burger servings increased by 4 percent between 2013 and 2014, says NPD. The book is back JCPenney says it will revive its Big Book catalog, after a five-year hiatus, following inter- nal studies that show catalogs are driving online sales. The catalogs were introduced in 1963, with some editions reaching 1,000 pages. The new, 120-page book presents items from the company's home department and was sent to select customers in March. "Cus- tomers, particularly when it comes to looking at home merchandise, still like flipping through a traditional print piece such as the Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, et cetera, mailers and small catalogs you get in the mail. But then they go to Jcp.com to order the item, or go into our store," said Penney's senior manager of corporate com- munications Kate Coultas. "It's a traffic-driving marketing piece." S C T Landlords prep for uptick in tenant bankruptcies Landlords are digesting more retailer bankruptcies in 2015 than in recent years. "As we moved into the first quarter, the industry saw a higher level of bankruptcy activ- ity than we've seen in many years," said Stephen D. Lebovitz, president and chief executive of CBL & As- sociates Properties. The bankruptcy filings of Body Central, Caché, Deb Shops and Wet Seal represent the loss of some $15 million in annual revenue in the firm's portfolio. "Our average bankruptcy loss for the past five years has been $5 mil- lion to $7 million," Lebovitz said. CBL has earmarked $10 million to cover the costs of re-leasing the spaces vacated by these chains in 2015. Despite the challenge, Lebovitz says he is confident that the firm will replace the closed stores with more-profitable new tenants. "We are seeing good de- mand, and so we feel like we will be better off down the road replacing these retailers. It will just take time with down time and backfilling." At Macerich's malls, five chains that have filed for bankruptcy pro- tection and are jettisoning leases — Body Central, Caché, Deb Shops, Delia's and Wet Seal — have been underperforming for a while, says executive vice president of leasing Robert Perlmutter. "These five chains do average sales of $212 per square foot, compared to our portfolio average of about $600 per square foot," he said. Perlmutter said Macerich has already re-leased 62 percent of the 27 stores closed in 2014 because of tenant bankruptcies.

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