RAPIDLY EVOLVING LIFESTYLE CENTERS PRESENT NEW RETAILER OPPORTUNITIES
The consumer craves convenience and a rewarding, even pleasurable experience. With so many places to shop and so many choices, buying something has once again transcended strict considerations of merchandise and price; it must feel right.
Retailers want “good numbers,” a synthesis of customer traffic, the desired demographics and positive co-tenancy.
For us, the lifestyle center, as we define and realize it, is proving an outstanding format to please both constituencies. The lifestyle center should not be rigidly defined by an exclusive category of merchants. Instead, lifestyle centers are about bringing together mixed uses (retail, dining, entertainment, office, residential, other commercial or service, and so on) in a way that creates a distinct, unique environment, a lifestyle. Freed of preconceptions about tenancy, as well as those about physical configuration, these centers are working in varied situations—downtowns, master-planned communities, suburbia or college towns, denser urban areas and even neighboring existing regional malls or upscale power strips.
What retailers like
As some theorists had been telling us, there are many people, young and old, from the career-immersed to the empty nester, who enjoy living in these environments, with work, residence, shopping and dining all a stroll apart.
Most retailers recognize this invigorated consumer. Furthermore, many of our retail partners are not cultivating cachet as much as something potentially more valuable and lasting—the educated customer who discerns the quality differences between merchants and makes a buying decision on that basis. This consumer can leapfrog strict demographics; buying “above themselves” when the item is important enough to them.
We have seen another favorable dynamic developing for some time, the folks who will pick up lunch at Subway or Quiznos, then shop Neiman Marcus in the afternoon; those who patronize Costco, Target and Tiffany’s.
Anchors have also evolved, with many specialty retailers just fine with positioning between quality, sit-down restaurants, as opposed to the department stores that once anchored so many malls. A quality grocer like Whole Foods Market, with repeat, targeted traffic also works. Visit them, visit us.
As a result, the tenant mix at lifestyle centers continues to broaden. Depending on the land mass available, certain “big box” merchants are welcome, can thrive and be synergistic in this environment. Many are succeeding in tailoring their platforms to specific physical and demographic settings, whether that means adapting special fits and finishes, learning to build up as well as out or accepting novel parking configurations.
The lifestyle center remains an invigorating platform for us as developers, for retailers and for consumers. The key is that we are allowing it to evolve, expanding uses and tenancy, instead of getting locked into a rigid formula. My sincere guess is that the lifestyle centers we are building today, by their adaptive nature, will serve us well into the future in ways that previous formats haven’t. In our view, this only strengthens the retail industry.
Brett Hutchens is president and CEO of Casto Lifestyle Properties and is the partner in charge of mixed-use lifestyle development for the Casto Organization. He has been directly responsible for the development of 10,000,000 sq. ft. of commercial retail properties in seven different states. His accomplishments include several power center projects as well as several mixed-use lifestyle projects such as Winter Park Village and Lakeside Village. Brett has been a presenter on mixed-use projects at regional and national programs for Urban Land Institute.
|
|
Brett Hutchens
President and CEO
Casto Lifestyle Properties
Published June 30, 2006 on Chain Store Age.com (Guest Commentaries)
|
|
|
