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Shopping Centers Today -> November 2005
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Sticky
fingers
Retailers lost more than $4.7 billion to shoplifting and employee theft in 2004,
according to a new report from security firm Jack L. Hayes International.
One in roughly 30 retail employees got busted for stealing last year, and that’s
just the ones who were caught, the survey notes. The report did show some positive
trends. For the fourth straight year, both the number of shoplifters apprehended
(689,340) and the dollars recovered from those apprehended shoplifters ($70
million) increased — 4.86 percent and 1.61 percent, respectively.
Birthday party
To commemorate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the REIT, a group of industry leaders together rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 20. Among the celebrants were Kimco Realty Corp. Chairman Milton Cooper, Vornado Realty Trust Chairman and CEO Steven Roth and New Plan Excel Realty Trust CEO Glenn J. Rufrano.
Killing Field’s
Federated Department Stores made “a difficult but sound business decision” to convert the 62 Marshall Field’s department stores to the Macy’s brand, says Alan Siegel, chairman of Siegel & Gale, a New York City brand-consulting firm. “To survive as a department store in the face of severe competition from Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl’s, who feature low prices, and high-end specialty stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, Federated has to create one umbrella brand to realize the significant efficiencies from centralized buying and a national advertising campaign,” he said. All 62 Marshall Field’s stores will convert to the Macy’s nameplate next fall.
Organic opus
Whole Foods isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket. The organic supermarket chain opened its first “lifestyle” store, selling clothing and housewares, but no groceries. The 2,000-square-foot store, called Whole Foods Lifestyle Market, opened in October next to an existing Whole Foods supermarket at the San Fair shopping center in West Hollywood, Calif. The new concept sells products ranging from recycled handbags to environmentally friendly paints. The store was built with sustainable materials, including hemp curtains for the dressing rooms, and even features reclaimed and reused fixtures.
Cirque works
Cirque du Soleil pitched its colorful tents in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in August, cheering restaurateurs and retailers still recovering from a bruising National Hockey League strike that darkened the nearby Arena for 301 days. A four-week run of the troop’s avant-garde Veraki show drew 85,000 visitors to Nationwide Realty’s 75-acre Arena District mixed-use development.
Saks strikes back
Saks Fifth Avenue is sprucing up key stores that are in danger of taking a hit from glamorous archrivals Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus. Last month Saks announced the $25 million makeover of its Copley Place store in Boston, including a 10,000-square-foot expansion. Construction is slated to end in August, just after Barneys opens a 64,000-square-foot store at the downtown complex. Saks will stage similar relaunchings of its Atlanta and San Antonio stores. Neiman Marcus plans to add 52,000 square feet to its Lenox Square store in Atlanta and recently opened its first San Antonio store. Saks is also taking unusual promotional steps to differentiate itself. Last month the chain herded goats into its Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York City to promote a winter collection of cashmere merchandise.
READERS TALK BACK...
Marcie Farino, a manager in the real estate department of Family Dollar Stores, had this to say about our September 2005 cover story, “Lease Land Mines”:“Retailer morphing is the direct result of a tight market, the attempt to capture more market share by adding ancillary categories. Retailers’ alternate exclusive language, identifying competitors, will see more names added if these ancillary categories start impacting sales even if they don’t change the original use. Forget Tony Soprano, it’s more like your wife saying, “If I’m going to be the woman in your life, you can’t have another, or you will pay the price."
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Robert E. Howard, vice president and general counsel of Gumberg Asset Management Corp., voiced his opinion and raised a question:“The cover story in your September 2005 issue suggests that a landlord who is asked by a prospective tenant for an exclusive provision may be served by giving a ‘tenant-specific rather than product-specific lease clause.’ Long ago I learned that a landlord agreeing to bar named retailers was in violation of federal anti-trust laws. Is that not the case today?”
Have an opinion on a story in SCT? E-mail comments to emander@icsc.org.
Color of money
Landlords can turn maintenance dollars into marketing dollars simply by giving their old or new properties an attractive paint job, according to Denver-based consultants The Color People. Colors set the tone of the shopping experience by indicating a center’s or retailer’s level of sophistication, says James Martin, owner of the firm. For example, paint a building in warm hues and watch the shoppers flock to it, he says. Brash tones don’t work these days, since consumers place a high premium on comfort, he says. Sky blue provided a much-needed update to the Second Spin music store in Denver.
Shopping Centers Today
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