Sounding the Alert:
It's Time to Stop This Blight!
First floor retail vacancies are becoming all too common everywhere. Not only are there languishing, formerly-occupied retail spaces; new "mixed use projects" – required by zoning regulations to include ground floor retail/restaurants – are magnifying the problem.
Too often, the spaces are too large, and the rents too high, keeping them out of reach for local, vibrant retailers. (You know, those shops envisioned by the urban planners.)
Yet the developers are able to remain steadfast; they keep the rents high even if it means the spaces remain vacant.
Especially in today's shrinking retail marketplace, it's "musical chairs" with fewer players and lots more chairs!
We of course are not the only folks to have noticed this.
But, as Retail Strategists, we have developed some ideas to reduce this blight. And we are happy to share them.
Here are 11 of our ideas, as first published in the Puget Sound Business Journal. We encourage you to consider any and all of these ideas for your own community.
It's our call to action for everyone who cares about the vitality of our communities.
Too often, the spaces are too large, and the rents too high, keeping them out of reach for local, vibrant retailers. (You know, those shops envisioned by the urban planners.)
Yet the developers are able to remain steadfast; they keep the rents high even if it means the spaces remain vacant.
Especially in today's shrinking retail marketplace, it's "musical chairs" with fewer players and lots more chairs!
We of course are not the only folks to have noticed this.
But, as Retail Strategists, we have developed some ideas to reduce this blight. And we are happy to share them.
Here are 11 of our ideas, as first published in the Puget Sound Business Journal. We encourage you to consider any and all of these ideas for your own community.
It's our call to action for everyone who cares about the vitality of our communities.
First published in the Puget Sound Business Journal, February 21, 2020
