Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
Kimco's Northeast region leasing asso- ciate. "It helps us, it helps them, and it makes it easy for the franchisee." DDR's Franchise Connect, started in February, is a similar device. "Not every location or market works for every fran- chiser," said Paul W. Freddo, DDR's senior executive vice president of leasing and development. "We're not sending back to them everything that's vacant." On these platforms, demograph- ics, square footage requirements and similar franchise specifications are en- tered online, and this information gets cross-referenced with shopping center owners' available space. Franchisers and landlords approve a final number of sites that are then considered preap- proved for a franchisee. Weingarten rolled out a program several years ago, though not an online one. In January, however, the firm initi- COLONIES CROSSROADS )UHHZD\ DW &DPSXV; $YHQXH 8SODQG &DOLIRUQLD; 21( 0LOOLRQ 6TXDUH )HHW _ 21( 3URMHFW _ 21( ,PSUHVVLYH 7HQDQW /LVW )LQDO 3KDVH 8QGHU &RQVWUXFWLRQ; 23(1,1* 635,1* ated a marketing effort it calls Shopcen- tric that streamlines all its programs for small-business owners and franchisees. Weingarten also put up some interac- tive business platforms on its Web site, slated at press time for availability last month. These enable entrepreneurs to create electronic financial statements and to access writing guides for help formulating a business plan. Drawing the franchisees is one thing, but pro- viding this sort of additional help all through the process can also attract investors and lenders, says Patricia A. Bender, Weingarten's executive vice president of leasing. "Ultimately, the goal of all the online tools, whether for prospective or existing tenants, is to lease vacant spaces and retain the tenants," Bender said. "We view it as a partnership so they not only lease but [also] renew in our shopping centers." What got the online programs go- 1RZ /HDVLQJ 5HVWDXUDQWV 6KRSV )RU PRUH LQIRUPDWLRQ FDOO %U\DQ 1RUFRWW 6WXGOH\ 5HWDLO ZZZ VWXGOH\UHWDLO FRP ZZZ FRORQLHVFURVVURDGV FRP 6XE $QFKRUV $ &RORQLHV; 3DUWQHUV 3DFL¿F 'HYHORSPHQW *URXS 3URMHFW 9LVLW XV DW WKH 5%1 %RRWK ORFDWHG DW & 8QLRQ 6WUHHW GXULQJ ,&6& 5H&RQ; ing for DDR and Kimco was a request several years ago from UPS Store, which wanted to advertise in vacant-store win- dows that the space would be ideal for one if its business service centers. The idea was for UPS Store and the center owners to create a list of vacant spaces without any lease commitment and then use ad banners to lure in fran- chisees. The company began pushing the ad banner programs five years ago, though it was a tough sell at first, says Chris Adkins, UPS Store's vice presi- dent of franchise development. UPS Store tweaked the idea and shopping center owners eventually came around. Apparently, larger shopping center own- ers thought the banners would lock up the available vacancies when no letter of intent or lease was in place, or that prospective tenants would wrongly as- sume the empty site was earmarked ex- clusively for a UPS Store. But as the drag on the economy continued, the conventional thinking changed. Last year open-air center vacan- cies hit 11 percent, the highest level since 164 SCT / MAY 2012