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To the Editor:

Regarding “What If Kmart Goes” (January 2003), thank you for keeping the industry informed by your publication. We are a small retailer and, even in this economy, small to medium shop space remains very difficult to find.

In many cases of closed or soon-to-be-closed Kmarts, the building should be reconfigured to accommodate medium and small shop space. Obviously, the landlord will be leasing only 60-to-100-foot depths, but if the square-foot rental rates are four to seven times what Kmart was paying, the landlord will not only increase his income, but divide his risk among several tenants.

Another possibility would be to divide the Kmart space into 60-foot depths with a common corridor to have retail space in the front and the remaining depth left for warehouse or office space.

We all know Kmart and other big retail space is on the market now and will continue to enter the market this year, so let’s get some creative ideas out on the table to feed us very hungry small-to-medium-size retailers that now starve for space.

John Pollock
Senior Vice President
The Philly Franchising Co.
Atlanta

Letters to the editor may be e-mailed to emander@icsc.org, faxed to (212) 589-5530, or mailed to SCT, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 41st Floor, New York, NY 10020-1099