Developer Lowe has launched a new retailplatform, Retail reVision. The platform is a strategic initiativeto assess and reposition retail properties. Lowe has namedJoel K. Mayer as EVP to lead the newinitiative.

"Retail reVision looks at the available retail space and devisessolutions that add value to properties and communities that solvethe retail problem with non-retail options. We are in the middle ofa large shakeout in retail that will leave many well-located retailproperties, such as malls, community, lifestyle and power centers,in urban and suburban infill markets poised to benefit fromrepositioning and redevelopment with a variety of new uses thatenhance neighborhoods while creating a new customer base for theexisting retail," Mayer tells GlobeSt.com.

There has been a shift in retail over the last several years,now accelerated by the pandemic, but Mayer asserts that the changesto retail go beyond the increase in ecommerce shopping. "While weare all keenly aware of the changes in retail over the past severalyears that have occurred as a result of online shopping, there havealso been many other changes that have propelled a reduced demandfor retail space, particularly for apparel businesses, whencompared with what had been the status quo," he says. "Beyondecommerce, we have had an evolution in workplace apparel that haseliminated the need for two or more wardrobes. In the past we hadwork clothes and casual clothes, today people have a moreall-purpose wardrobe."