Three landlords are launching curbside, contactless-exchange programs in anticipation of a phased reopening for shopping center tenants in the coming weeks.

Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns interest in 104 mixed-use and retail properties, will launch The Pick-Up on Friday, May 15. A customer places an order from a participating retailer and selects a pickup time. The landlord then sends a particular curbside location to the customer and employees of the store from which the customer ordered. The customer drives to the location at the designated time, and the retailer’s employees place the purchase in the customer’s back seat or trunk. Where local and state laws permit, customers also can return merchandise through the program.

“The Pick-Up takes what is already a growing trend and builds a scalable platform, making it easier for merchants and customers to coordinate the quick, contactless exchange of products to help our tenants drive demand,” said Don Wood, president and CEO of Federal Realty. “Long term, this national platform delivers a resource for our merchants to evolve with this growing channel within brick-and-mortar.”

Kimco Realty — which owns interests in 409 properties, many of them open-air centers —rolled out Curbside Pickup at its Texas assets last week, starting with 60 parking spots at Grand Parkway Marketplace, in Spring, Texas. Kimco designates curbside-pickup parking spots at each shopping center. The program will expand nationwide in the coming days.

“While curbside pickup was already gaining traction before the pandemic, some of our national retailers are now reporting a 200 percent increase in curbside pickup orders,” said Kimco CEO Conor Flynn. “By formalizing the process and expanding it beyond national retailers to our local mom-and-pops, we hope to help tenants quickly ramp back up sales as the economy begins to open again."

Phillips Edison & Co. is giving shoppers “front-row” access for easy curbside pickup with its Front Row to Go program, which numbers parking spaces for curbside pickup. "Our team has already worked with our grocers to accommodate their pickup programs, and we are pleased to expand this offering to our other retailers," said senior vice president and chief marketing officer Cherilyn Megill.

Singular, reliable, centralized services allow landlords to help small-business tenants, in particular, get back on their feet and keep pace with the evolving customer. “Our curbside pickup program takes the best practices we have learned from our large national players and shares them with our small-business owners while also adding a level of convenience and comfort for customers, who are still eager to support their favorite local establishments,” Flynn said.