Former Office Depot Exec Shares Four Key Retail Trends

The retail industry is seeing some unique trends rising.

MIAMI—What can we expect from retail in 2017? You haven’t heard enough perspectives until you’ve heard this one. GlobeSt.com caught up with Julie Augustyn, former senior director of Real Estate for Office Depot and current senior vice president at Foundry Commercial, about what retailers can expect in 2017.

1. Grocery anchored neighborhood centers are the fabric of a community: With the rise of e-commerce, she tells GlobeSt.com, there is concern of reduction in brick and mortar retail stores. “We are seeing an increase in grocery anchored shopping centers, ranging in size from smaller grocery stores—ALDI, LIDL, The Fresh Market, Sprouts—to expanding traditional grocers to larger regional grocers, like Wegman’s,” she says. Done right, a grocery-anchored center can be a part of the community with local retailers and creates a neighborhood feel that cannot be replaced online.”