Expanding Entertainment and Value Concepts Will Show Their Stuff at ICSC NEW YORK

Tenants from every corner of the industry will showcase their expansion plans, specs and strategies at ICSC NEW YORK next week, whetting the appetites of investors, developers, economic agencies and landlords.

The entertainment sector is more important than ever as landlords seek large-scale users to take on big-boxes emptied by the likes of Bed Bath & Beyond. Activate Games — which merges fitness, gaming and entertainment and is pictured above — opened a 5,600-square-foot unit in New Jersey’s American Dream in August. The concept lets visitors climb, jump and dodge their way through interactive rooms based on video games and has 21 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Franchisor Launch Entertainment also will show off its concepts. The company, which started in 2012 as a trampoline park and arcade, has inked a deal to open its first unit in Colorado. Launch Entertainment of Denver aims to open in the second half of 2024 featuring indoor trampolines, bowling, arcades and other games. The company operates 30 locations across the country and has backing from private equity fund Silver Oak Services Partners. And FunBox Franchise provides affordable inflatable bounce parks for families. The company operates in 20 locations, mostly malls, and is exhibiting at ICSC NEW YORK in part to find more vacancies to fill.

Value Retailers

Value-oriented retailers also are filling vacancies. Rising credit card debt levels, student debt payments and other economic concerns will spur consumers to spend smarter in 2024. And retailers offering strong value propositions are well financed and ready to grow. Several expanding discount retailers are among the exhibitors. Burlington plans to open 80 stores this fiscal year, including some Bed Bath & Beyond locations acquired at auction. Ocean State Job Lot, a regional discount chain with 152 stores, recently moved into a vacant 31,939-square-foot former Marshalls in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. And Ollie’s opened its 500th store — in Iowa City, Iowa — in September. The company plans to open 50 to 55 locations a year until it reaches its goal of 1,050.

Dollar store operators accounted for one-third of U.S. gross store openings in 2023, according to Cushman & Wakefield. And they’ll continue adding space in 2024, experts say. Both Dollar General and Dollar Tree/Family Dollar will be at ICSC NEW YORK to scout for potential sites. Dollar General — which operates 19,488 stores under the Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and Popshelf banners — will seek new markets to meet expansion goals. In fiscal year 2023 alone, the company will open 990 stores, remodel 2,000 and relocate 120. Meanwhile, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar is reviewing its portfolio of 8,299 Family Dollar and may unload unperforming locations.

Value-oriented tenants are strong across the board, including in the grocery sector, according to Brixmor vice president of research David Spawn. “Off-price grocers are experiencing a moment,” he said in a recent Placer.ai webinar. “Grocery Outlet is soaring when other grocers are coming back to more reasonable post-pandemic levels.” California-based Grocery Outlet, which has 455 franchises across the country and recently opened its second Ohio store, also will exhibit at ICSC NEW YORK.

Also check out the latest issue of ICSC president and CEO Tom McGee’s LinkedIn newsletter, From Where I Sit, for the top three real estate trends on his mind and the ICSC NEW YORK sessions that will dig deeper into them.

3 Latest Online Brands Going Physical

Online brands continue to open physical stores to reach more consumers. Figs, at the intersection of scrubs and lifestyle brand, opened its first permanent physcal store, at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles. The store enables healthcare professionals to feel, try on and personalize apparel and participate in programming around issues important to health care workers. The Los Angeles-based direct-to-consumer retailer chose Westfield Century City for its first store because the city is one of the brand’s largest markets. Westfield Century City itself is home to several medical tenants, including UCLA Health, One Medical and Forward. The mall also is located within 10 miles of six major healthcare institutions.

Pop culture phenomenon Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand of shapewear opened its first store, at Domain Northside in Austin, Texas, this month. The brand won’t say if the space is permanent or a pop-up but described the store as a “workshop” for permanent stores in Los Angeles and New York City that will open in 2024.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Could Kim Kardashian Sign Your Lease?

Meanwhile, lifestyle brand Madhappy used some of its backing from luxury conglomerate LVMH to open a 2,800-square-foot streetfront store in West Hollywood, California. The store features its own scent, a conversation pit, and a cafe called Pantry. The brand decided to open a permanent store in the Los Angeles area after 20 successful pop-ups in U.S. cities. “From the beginning, physical retail has been essential to Madhappy and its success,” Madhappy co-founder Peiman Raf said. “We’ve always viewed our shops as spaces that go beyond something purely transactional. We want them to allow our community to engage with Madhappy beyond what’s possible digitally.”

From the ICSC Small Business Center

Luxury Shoppers Are Hitting the Stores Later and Less Often This Holiday Season

Rents Rebound on Prime Retail Streets Around the World

The world’s top retail streets are recovering well from the pandemic, as retail rents in these prime corridors increased 4.8% on average over the past year, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Main Streets Across the World 2023. That beats the previous year’s 3.7% growth. Asia-Pacific showed the strongest growth; retail rents on its prime corridors hiked up an average of 5.3%. The Americas followed close behind at 5.2%, and Europe’s prime-corridor retail rents rose 4.2%.

New York’s Fifth Avenue continues to command the highest retail rents globally. Average annual rent per square foot on the famed street hovered at $2,000 per square foot for the second year in a row. Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone jumped a spot from 2022’s ranking into second place with $1,766, displacing Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui, which placed third this year with $1,493. London’s New Bond Street, with $1,462, and Paris’ Avenues des Champs-Elysees, with $1,120, retained their fourth and fifth positions.

The biggest change came on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue, which moved from 31st in 2022 to 20th in 2023. Rampant inflation caused rents to more than double there over the past year to $240 per square foot.

North American Properties has enhanced security at The Forum Peachtree Corners with almost 50 license plate recognition cameras. NAP and Nuveen real estate acquired the property northeast of Atlanta in 2002. As part of its transformation from a retail-focused lifestyle center into a mixed-use complex, NAP has installed the cameras around the perimeter of the 500,000-square-foot property over the past two years. They monitor traffic and connect to software that aggregates live video, data and sensor feeds from public and private sources and relays that data to the city of Peachtree Corners.

The Forum’s security cameras helped law enforcement capture suspects in a nearby murder last year. More recently, the camera system helped identify and track suspects accused of armed robbery at a jewelry store at the property, according to NAP director of innovation and digital assets Jay Richard-Yu.

“We are proud to partner with local municipalities and law enforcement agencies on curating secure communities for our guests, tenants and employees,” Richard-Yu said. “Technology has the power to automate workflows, and binding these assets will provide management with an advanced, interconnected approach toward combating ORC at The Forum.”

ALSO CHECK OUT: ORC Task Forces Made a Difference in 2023