A Retail Consumer Trend Fewer Are Discussing

ATLANTA—E-commerce's impact on retail and industrial—and even multifamily—commercial real estate continues to be a topic of discussion. At the same time, many retailers are grappling with the rising impact of Millennial shoppers. But there is one trend that fewer have discussed.

Nick Egelanian president of Siteworks Retail and author of an Urban Land Institute chapter on commodity versus specialty retail, is pointing out that trend in part two of our exclusive interview series. You can still read part one: What to Expect Next in a Post-Department Store Era.

GlobeSt.com: How will demographic shifts impact retail real estate industry in 2017? And what are the implications?

Egelanian: While there is plenty of talk about the impact of Millennials, Baby Boomers will continue to drive the largest share of retail sales. However, non-Caucasian ethnic groups are growing at a much faster rate than Caucasian, and this trend will continue and result in fundamental shifts in retail “style” for years to come.

GlobeSt.com: How rapidly is experiential retail gaining momentum? What do you expect on this front in 2017 and what are the implications?

Egelanian: Experiential retail has been and will continue to take over as anchor tenants at prominent specialty retail shopping centers while department stores continue to diminish in importance. Up and coming places like LEGOLAND Discovery Center and Crayola Experience bring a family-friendly environment offering a hands-on, authentic experience. Although many items can be bought online, people will continue to go to these brick-and-mortar locations to get the experience, so we can expect to see more of these experience concepts popping up around the US.

Will Omni-channel retail spike in 2017? Here's one view.

ATLANTA—E-commerce's impact on retail and industrial—and even multifamily—commercial real estate continues to be a topic of discussion. At the same time, many retailers are grappling with the rising impact of Millennial shoppers. But there is one trend that fewer have discussed.

Nick Egelanian president of Siteworks Retail and author of an Urban Land Institute chapter on commodity versus specialty retail, is pointing out that trend in part two of our exclusive interview series. You can still read part one: What to Expect Next in a Post-Department Store Era.

GlobeSt.com: How will demographic shifts impact retail real estate industry in 2017? And what are the implications?

Egelanian: While there is plenty of talk about the impact of Millennials, Baby Boomers will continue to drive the largest share of retail sales. However, non-Caucasian ethnic groups are growing at a much faster rate than Caucasian, and this trend will continue and result in fundamental shifts in retail “style” for years to come.

GlobeSt.com: How rapidly is experiential retail gaining momentum? What do you expect on this front in 2017 and what are the implications?

Egelanian: Experiential retail has been and will continue to take over as anchor tenants at prominent specialty retail shopping centers while department stores continue to diminish in importance. Up and coming places like LEGOLAND Discovery Center and Crayola Experience bring a family-friendly environment offering a hands-on, authentic experience. Although many items can be bought online, people will continue to go to these brick-and-mortar locations to get the experience, so we can expect to see more of these experience concepts popping up around the US.

Will Omni-channel retail spike in 2017? Here's one view.