Shopping Center Business is the leading monthly business magazine for the retail real estate industry.
Issue link: http://shoppingcenterbusiness.epubxp.com/i/752067
NEW YORK ROUNDTABLE 72 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • December 2016 of the major anchors disappearing. What are we going to do to replace them? And what are we going to do to fill up these empty boxes? The restaurants, as you've said, are number one. There's no ques- tion; but there are so many new concepts coming out on the entertainment side of the business. The consumer today wants to be entertained and you want them to come back and spend money, so how are you going to set up your space in your property to make that happen? Rabinowitz: I think you hit on it. The role of e-commerce in all of this is a ne- cessity for the developers and retailers alike to figure out how to get people into their facilities and bricks-and-mortar so that they can come in and eventually buy some goods. I think it's a lot of things converging. Kampler: It's a very important point. Experiential retail, we characterize it as food and beverage or entertainment and hospitality. We speak primarily on behalf of New Yorkers and the New York Metro, and I think it's important to note that we live in a secluded silo within this country, and New York City almost by definition is an experience. Between the indige- nous population, between the millenni- al that lives in a very small place and is going out to do anything and everything, and the tourist. By definition, we are in a fantastic spot that even though some of the entertainment is traditional retail, New Yorkers — more than I believe any other market across our country — still like the traditional shopping venues, so that's good news for all of us around this table. Stephanou: I agree with everything that everyone is saying about entertainment filling in empty anchor spaces. Retail and its tributaries have always been cy- cling and changing constantly. For those who are old enough to remember, those young, trendy retail concepts that disap- peared 20 years ago that used to fill ev- ery middle America shopping center in the country. A lot of those retailers are gone. What I don't know if I completely understand is whether the entertainment — whether you go to throw axes or you go to watch a jousting match or go bowl- ing — if that is a trip where you are also going to be shopping. Years ago, when I lived in Los Angeles, the cinema that was at Century City was one of the highest vol- ume cinemas in the country. There was a Brentano's right at the base of the escala- tor and that bookstore was one of the top performers in the chain, other than the Brentano's on Fifth Avenue. The reality was that people were lingering; they'd buy their movie tickets, and while they were waiting they would hang out in the book- store. The cinema was so successful, I'm not sure if that trickled down to the more conventional retailers. People went there for the movie theater, they didn't go there to buy an outfit. White: Well, they used to go to the food court, and then they started to have the food court within the theater so it goes through these waves of helping and then not helping. If the theaters were across the street and you had to get in your car to get to the mall, you definitely would have no cross shopping. If it's on the side of the mall, you'll have some cross shopping. SCB: When you look at retail stores, what is entertaining? The design of the store? The access? The music? All of that is part of the entertainment aspect, it's not like having acrobats going down the aisle. Kampler: Like wine being served while you're trying on the sweater that you can't try on at home on your couch. Deborah Jackson: I think one thing that we may be missing here is that we've got a lot of these factors converging. Entertain- ment and restaurants are popular, but the issue is that when something is trending, it's also tricky. How many restaurants have we seen go out of business? How many developer/owners have we seen jump on a bandwagon and put tenancy in their centers or on their streets or in their buildings because it was cool and it was timely and they don't execute it well? While we're at a place now where every- one wants restaurants because they need to fill space and they have a shopper base that likes it, not everyone knows how to do it well. That's a problem. A few years from now, if we're sitting at this table having the same conversation, we'll be talking about the things that didn't work and why. I think one great concept is food halls. People like them; everyone is time constrained. Being able to walk through a district or an eatery and pick up items as you're going along when you didn't know what you wanted, you're going to buy more. I think one of the points that Stephen [Stephanou] had made is that sometimes entertainment and restaurants coexist well with the other retail around it. Sometimes, it's a one stop — you're going to go around the corner, go bowling, may- be you'll get a coffee or something else, but you're not going to go shopping for clothing. I think it has to be mixed well. Kostic: At Brookfield Place, obviously food is an anchor in and of itself. Outside of the food, looking at the retail center in general, we kind of look at three different From left, Sever Garcia, SGN Group; David Rabinowitz, Goulston & Storrs; Andy Graiser, A&G; Realty Partners; Richard Cohan, 34th Street Partnership; Frankie Campione, Create Architecture Planning & Design.