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Below is an article that was published on Philly.com featuring Rob Samtmann, Equity Principal and Co-Chair of the Retail Brokers Network Box Council.If Sears Holdings were to shut its stores in affluent Exton and Moorestown, mall owners (in this case, Ron Rubin's PREIT) would likely find new tenants, as PREIT manager Joseph Coradino told my colleague Maria Panaritis.
But in the real world, Sears is shutting stores in older business districts like Upper Darby and Pottstown. Those holes will be harder to fill, as Rob Samtmann, partner at Conshohocken-based tenant (and landlord) rep Equity Retail Brokers told me.
"The trend is, almost every retailer now has a smaller prototype store," Samtmann noted. Chains like Best Buy can stay in business with their (e.g. Geek Squad) service desks and limited shelf space, but they're stuck with long leases for retail floors they no longer need, now that more and more shoppers are buying online.
Equity is the broker that sold the leases at Boscov's former Montgomeryville and Oxford Valley stores during the Reading department-store chain's bankruptcy reorganization a couple of years back. The Montgomeryville store is to be a Wegman's. But Samtmann knows that's a rare package solution. It's tough to turn part of a two- or three-story department store into a supermarket - and vice versa - especially in a world where landlords have micromanagement rights about what new tenants can do.
PREIT says more of its malls in upscale places like Moorestown will be anchored by fancy liquor-serving restaurants, not outdated department stores. Around the region, says Samtmann, "I'm seeing retail stores turned into offices, and Kmarts becoming storage facilities or industrial flex space.
But in the real world, Sears is shutting stores in older business districts like Upper Darby and Pottstown. Those holes will be harder to fill, as Rob Samtmann, partner at Conshohocken-based tenant (and landlord) rep Equity Retail Brokers told me.
"The trend is, almost every retailer now has a smaller prototype store," Samtmann noted. Chains like Best Buy can stay in business with their (e.g. Geek Squad) service desks and limited shelf space, but they're stuck with long leases for retail floors they no longer need, now that more and more shoppers are buying online.
Equity is the broker that sold the leases at Boscov's former Montgomeryville and Oxford Valley stores during the Reading department-store chain's bankruptcy reorganization a couple of years back. The Montgomeryville store is to be a Wegman's. But Samtmann knows that's a rare package solution. It's tough to turn part of a two- or three-story department store into a supermarket - and vice versa - especially in a world where landlords have micromanagement rights about what new tenants can do.
PREIT says more of its malls in upscale places like Moorestown will be anchored by fancy liquor-serving restaurants, not outdated department stores. Around the region, says Samtmann, "I'm seeing retail stores turned into offices, and Kmarts becoming storage facilities or industrial flex space.
"This isn't a bubble, it's not a transition to a new model, there's no waiting for things to improve anymore. It's a new world you need to get comfortable in.
"Spaces will get re-used. The business is like golf, every shot's good for somebody. Only now, you have to turn over every rock to find who that is."
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