Retail and its effect on real estate…

Rebecca Fitts, Principal Consultant for The Wild West of Retail (a consultancy focusing on non-traditional retail real estate strategies, brick and mortar customer experience and omni-channel solutions in the physical space) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Is ecommerce causing retauil apolcolypse, or revolution?
• The many changes going on in retail, surplus of retail real estate, need to find way out of that
• Figure out way that retailers can handle taking on overhead
• Digitally native brands opening up physical stores, customers want to have a touch/feel experience with brands
• How a physical store can help reduce amount of returns
• How there are no “pure plays” anymore
• Why physical retailers have harder time moving to ecommerce than ecommerce moving physical
• Westfield’s World  Trade Center Oculus mall, public/private partnership, commuter hub
• Downtown redeveloping itself post-9/11 in NYC, a great comeback
• Mixed use of property, the way cities are growing
• The changing relationship between tenants and landlord, the difficulty of physical spaces taking long term leases
• An interest in commuter hubs for brands
• The need for experiences to be dynamic and changing, and are some physical stores too static to adapt?
• Retail trying to think in a new and different way
• Advancements in technology allowing you to reconfigure the store more frequently and easily
• Virtual reality, augmented reality, and smart mirrors allowing great things to be done in the store to expand experiences
• How Fitts is outgoing and enjoying being in a field that bounces around and changes
• The kinds of neighborhoods that are attractive to retailers, being loyal to local merchants
• Some of Fitts’ favorite jewelry designers

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