Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/528948
48 S C T / J u l y 2 0 1 5 a popular tool. When we send out our email blasts, everybody keeps looking for the latest drone updates." In some cases, marketing retail spaces can turn into mass marketing. In early 2013 the Washington, D.C., airport au- thority asked MarketPlace Development — the airport retail company of which Newton, Mass.–based New England Development is owner — to lease the equivalent of 160 stores in 36 months at Washington Dulles International Air- port and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The team is well on its way to accomplishing this, in part by conducting leasing outreach forums that have drawn hundreds of potential ten- ants. "The airport authority challenged us to redevelop 90 percent of the conces- sions programs at these two airports," said Kathy P. Viola, CMD, MarketPlace Development's general manager at Ronald Reagan. "It was a big undertak- ing and a very unusual, rare situation; it gave us the opportunity to establish a strategy to attract cutting-edge brands." Thus far MarketPlace Development has brought in such tenants as Bar Sy- mon, Burberry, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Chef Geoff's, Michael Kors and Tumi to Dulles, and has signed leases with American Tap Room, Ben's Chili Bowl, Brooks Brothers, Spanx, Taylor Gour- met and Vineyard Vines, among others, at Ronald Reagan. As with downtown projects, retail executives tend to have lots of questions about airport retail, says Kimberly Baldy, the company's mar- keting director at Ronald Reagan. The leasing forums were designed to help answer these, she says. They involved inviting retailer representatives who had expressed interest in the airports in the past, but also pounding the pavement to court quirky local retailers that could add authenticity and interest to the con- cessions, Baldy says. Forum turnout — MarketPlace De- velopment has staged five so far — has been strong, Baldy notes. The first event generated 104 proposals for 19 available spaces in an initial phase of the remer- chandising. "We had 305 attendees representing 214 different companies," Baldy said. "Out of those, 177 expressed interest by returning a questionnaire." On average, each of the subsequent fo- rums has attracted approximately 250 attendees. The forums proved to be an excellent way to educate retailers about what it is like to operate in airport set- tings, where the regulatory and other constraints are far different from those at malls, she says. "Some of these retailers had only op- erated in shopping centers and were able to see that there are good opportunities in airports," Baldy said. "In fact, we have even had a few retailers close their street locations and become airport-only op- erators because of the good results they have had with us." SCT BIGGER I BETTER I BACK Over 160,000 square feet of exhibit space, more than 9,500 attendees and all in one place! December 7 – 8, 2015 I Jacob K. Javits Convention Center #NYConf For more information visit www.icsc.org/2015EDM