ICSC: International Council of Shopping Centers

2005 ICSC Hot Retailer Awards announced

LAS VEGAS -- Apple, Coach, Steve & Barry's, White House/Black Market and Williams-Sonoma are the hottest retailers of 2005, according to a survey of 3,126 mall managers and marketing directors in the U.S. and Canada conducted by ICSC. Fashion commentator Melissa Rivers presented the awards to the retailers today at ICSC's Spring Convention in Las Vegas.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple's stores and products are just plain cool. And landlords are finding that coolness rubs off on any shopping center Apple is a part of. “The product is so cute,” said Colleen Pillus, marketing director of the Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Galleria. “The exposure Apple is getting right now - you can't pay for that kind of press.”

New York City-based Coach has gone from staid to cutting-edge, and the change has paid off, landlords say, because the brand now appeals to teen-agers as well as their grandmothers. “The key is three words: relevance, innovation and value,” said Andrea Shaw Resnick, vice president of investor relations. Value, the last part of the equation, she says, means providing quality at “an affordable luxury price.”

Lifestyle center landlords are particularly fond of San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma because the chain encourages shoppers to linger with its experience-oriented stores. “Williams-Sonoma has reinvented the customer experience in purchasing housewares,” said Patrick J. Connolly, chief marketing officer.

Landlords say Fort Myers, Fla.-based White House/Black Market appeals to a wide range of shoppers. “So many people wear those colors, either as a [main color] or an accent,” said Aimee Braswell, marketing manager for First Colony Mall, Sugar Land, Texas. The core White House/Black Market customer is 42 years old, Smith says, but the stores' appeal extends far beyond the target.

Landlords have found a new anchor tenant in Port Washington, N.Y.-based discount apparel chain Steve & Barry's University Sportswear. The retailer's stores range from 25,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet, and it charges 50 percent to 90 percent less for the same quality clothing found at competing department and specialty stores. “They're offering good-quality product at a reasonable price and to a good age group,” said Virginia Rand Bowman, managing general partner at Northgate Mall Associates, Durham, N.C.