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IS SPEEDY SHOPPING STRICTLY A U.S. PHENOMENON?

Are U.S. consumers hopelessly enslaved by their busy lifestyles? Or is it possible to cancel the meeting, put down the Palm Pilot, switch off the cell phone and relax?

Not to dismiss the stress-inducing influence of Americans’ daily grind, but retail experts who routinely spend time in other parts of the world say the phenomenon of the “time pressed” consumer is, at least in part, a cultural construct.

Take Puerto Rico, for example. With estimated gross domestic product of $69 billion in 2004, the island has one of the Caribbean’s busiest economies. And yet a favorite national pastime of its highly educated, on-the-go workforce could be characterized as “shop till you drop, then go to dinner.”

Zipping in and out of a mall as fast as possible runs counter to Puerto Rican culture, says John S. Kokinchak, SCSM, CLS, vice president of specialty center property management for Developers Diversified Realty Corp. Islanders, he says, love to socialize with friends and family — and to spend, spend, spend. As a percentage of personal income, consumer spending in Puerto Rico is twice what it is in the U.S.

Last year Developers Diversified bought a 15-center, 5 million-square-foot portfolio in Puerto Rico for $1.15 billion. The Beachwood, Ohio-based firm is now Puerto Rico’s largest single owner, developer and manager of retail real estate. Islanders’ leisurely culture of consumption was a big part of the attraction, Kokinchak says.

Similarly, Spain’s shoppers chafe at the tyranny of frenetic schedules. The stores, restaurants and bars at Spanish malls such as The Mills Corp.’s Madrid Xanadú are likely to be hopping at 3 a.m., long after U.S. malls have turned out the lights, says Ian F. Thomas, chairman of Thomas Consultants, a global retail consulting firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Despite the popularity of convenience-oriented retail in the United States, much of the rest of the world still prefers to enjoy enclosed malls at a relaxed pace, he says. In his recent travels Thomas has watched South Koreans savoring beautiful merchandise displays in jewel-box department stores and incredulous shoppers in Dubai escaping the heat by hanging out for hours at the faux ski slopes at The Mall of the Emirates.

“The rest of the world still has this infatuation with the enclosed mall,” Thomas said. “When you look at the new, fancy malls in China, Dubai, Australia, they are all gorgeous, flagship, enclosed malls.” Is that a prompt for U.S. landlords to start an anti-convenience counterculture?

— JG