Crisis forces innovation. Charlie Coyne has seen this firsthand. For all its economic ruin, COVID-19 has forced some positive industry changes, said the senior vice president, principal and director of retail services in CBRE's Raleigh office. "It's pushed brokers to get more creative and more interactive, and it's accelerated our use of technology and innovation. Companies that have embraced this are going to recover sooner."
Coyne — who handles tenant representation and site selection for such national retailers as Harris Teeter and Ikea, plus several top local shop and restaurant owners — has pushed himself into daily structure. "I set my alarm for the same time each morning and make sure I have a daily balance of work, exercise, family time and teaching my kids," he said. Coyne's two children, like most four- and six-year olds, can be a handful during daytime working hours, especially after a few months of sheltering at home, he said.
Coyne uses his daily walks to jump on phone chats with clients, both to reinforce relationships and to set the table for better times. Some things haven't slowed. "While a lot of the world is on hold, retail construction has been moving forward," including two well-situated projects that Coyne is marketing, he said.
As the weeks crawl by, videoconferencing is slowly giving way to simple conference calling because it makes participants feel less awkward about their attire, home backdrops or kids interrupting, he explained. "People are much more relaxed and more themselves this way."
Weekly meetings featuring CBRE-leased developments around the Carolinas and attended by developers and regional brokers drew about 25 before COVID-19 and now bring in about 75 virtually, in part due to enticements like gift card drawings, Coyne said. "At first, we were all wondering if this was the new way to do these events, but while it's a good supplement, we realize there's still no replacement for face to face." Similarly, virtual tours of retail space, while better than no tours, are also challenging "because there isn't as much engagement or as much dialogue," he said.
What retail will look like moving forward is hard to predict, Coyne said, but the recovery will continue to be local and differ from submarket to submarket, typically starting in suburbia before finally reaching urban areas.
Those firms that have continued to nurture and update their clients during the shutdown, he emphasized, will benefit the most when recovery comes.
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By Steve McLinden
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today