UPDATE: Pikenet.com in no longer available so the links in this post won't work. If you’ve been in CRE a while you might remember Peter Pike’s PikeNet Dispatch. His weekly email was read by over 9000 CRE professionals before he wrapped up its 10 year run in 2006. All the dispatches remain online though there’s no way to search through them. If you land on one you can only hit the “next” button to read another. I was doing just that the other day. It was like a virtual museum of CRE … [Read more...]
The Retail “Experience”
In an article in a local newspaper this week, area mall owners and town planning boards were looking for ways to stop the march of online commerce. One of the town planners stated that “everyone shops online now” so they needed to figure out how to draw consumers back to the malls. “Experience” seems to be the big retail buzz word. The “town center” model– a mix of national and local retailers, restaurants and services nestled in a park-like setting with sitting and/or large common areas – is … [Read more...]