Member spotlight: Kristi Rooks says authenticity is key for successful retail spaces

Now she is sharing that expertise through her Atlanta-based consultant firm Thoughtwell, which helps owners design, plan and market their projects. Attention to detail is more important than ever for physical retail projects, competing as they are against online retail, Rooks says. But if done right, they are in a far stronger position to prevail, she asserts, because, when at their best, they offer experiences that can never be replicated online.

“Whether you believe that [Internet sales are] going to continue to be a hit on brick-and-mortar sales or not, [it] is making the retailer and the developer of real estate think a lot harder about how we’re doing things,” Rooks said. “I truly believe that if you can drive experience, you are going to pull people off the Internet to spend money.”

It is critical for stores and retail centers to provide people a strong sense of place through good service and design, says Rooks. “You know very quickly if [a store is] somewhere you feel comfortable, and there’s real value in that,” she said. “It’s a powerful thing — creating this place where you feel welcome [and where] everybody knows your name.”

Good design is close to her heart, Rooks says, describing how an urban-planning professor during her undergraduate studies at University of California, Irvine, tapped into her childhood interest in architecture and reignited a passion for urban design. After obtaining a master’s in urban planning, Rooks held several city planner posts in San Jose, Calif., and the surrounding area, turning one of the city’s neighborhoods from a no-man’s land into a vibrant neighborhood of homes, businesses and cultural institutions. She has also been site development coordinator at architecture and development services firm GreenbergFarrow, as well as a real estate manager at Home Depot and Kohl’s.

More recently, Rooks has worked with WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, which is redeveloping the historic Underground Atlanta, and she was a co-founding partner at retail real estate services firm Revel LLC. 

What applies to city neighborhoods also applies to retail and mixed-use developments, Rooks argues: The individual elements must work together holistically. To bring the right tenants and uses to a project, the developers must understand the market and its inhabitants, she says. “The most important thing is to really understand where you are,” Rooks said. “Contrived ‘authenticity’ drives me crazy.”