Open-Air Retail’s Dominance Could Last Well Beyond The Pandemic
September 23, 2020 | Dean Boerner | Bisnow, San Francisco Bay Area
One of the lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the retail sector may be a bias against indoor shopping experiences among customers and developers, retail real estate experts say.
Very little brick-and-mortar retail has been left untouched by the pandemic’s disastrous effects. Among publicly traded REITs, those specializing in regional malls have been hit the hardest, plummeting 53% year-to-date, while shopping center and free-standing retail REITs have been battered by drops of 45% and 20%, respectively, according to Nareit.
A recovery will likely favor outdoor retail well beyond the worst of the coronavirus, according to Leslie Lundin, managing partner of West Coast shopping center owner LBG Real Estate Cos. She said she and other developers are anticipating a bias for outdoor retail as a lasting societal imprint left by the pandemic.
