Retail Needs to Balance Innovation With Sensitivity

Retail has a long road ahead to recover from the pandemic. The market disruption will require retailers to balance innovation and sensitivity to drive customers into the store. Following the pandemic, consumers will crave safe spaces and distance, but pent-up demand to be in public spaces will drive them out of the house. The winning retailers will be able to balance and acknowledge both these trends.

“People will always seek out new experiences, and retail owners and developers have been tasked with providing them as a means of attracting customers into the brick-and-mortar setting,” Greg Lyon, chairman and principal of Nadel Architecture + Planning, tells GlobeSt.com. “Retail design is likely to support these new experiences by being innovative and still sensitive to a society that has been wary to interact in person over the last year.”

After the vaccine has been distributed and the virus has been quelled, protective wear, like masks, may not be necessary, but consumers will still feel most comfortable in spaces with a health and safety plan. “The demand for retail spaces with superior ventilation systems and touchless point-of-purchase will continue, as will the call for features that allow for these new and unusual experiences,” says Lyon.

In many ways, this is a design challenge, and Nadel is already working to tackle this change. The firm is currently working on a new shopping center project in Las Vegas. “We recently completed a Phase 4 expansion of Showcase Mall, a 461,400 square-foot mall on the Las Vegas Strip, which includes escalator access to a Burlington store in the basement, elevators that lead to each tenant’s own lobby, and plans for a rooftop bar and restaurant with spectacular views of the Strip,” says Lyon.

Retail was already on a roller coaster of change triggered by the Financial Crisis and the popularity of online shopping. The sector is already adaptable to new market challenges. While some brands will inevitably be left behind, many retailers are already looking to the future. “The retail sector is particularly resilient and has become nimble at reinventing itself in the face of challenge,” says Lyon. “These qualities will be reflected in new design elements that draw in shoppers and make their experience at retail centers increasingly pleasurable and rewarding.”