Carol Todreas, Todreas Hanley Associates

Welcome to a new year of Todreas Hanley Associates’ column for people and companies involved in the combination of retail and real estate. We want to talk to property owners, store owners, managers, mayors, planners and try to help you understand and respond effectively to a rapidly changing world.

Who are we writing for? • People who own or manage existing retail centers; • Potential future owners by purchase or inheritance; • Managers of active neighborhood business associations; and • The many other people and companies who make this business work including investors, brokers, bankers and government officials concerned with community and economic development.

Who are concerned with or have questions about: • The future of the center they are (or will be) responsible for?; •Changes in the nature and economics of retail centers?; and • What in the world are they are supposed to do in the face of changes in their particular market and the retail market in general?

Note that we are careful to use the words “retail centers” which includes all forms of shopping centers and malls as well downtowns, neighborhood and town retail areas.

When is the time to hire a consultant and for what? |Owning and managing shopping centers and retail areas used to be fairly simple. Sure things changed and crisis came and went, but for the most part change came slowly. Markets evolved rather than going through sudden shifts. Age and income cohorts evolved over time, but generally along a known path from young families, to mature families to empty-nesters.

You know, as we know, that those days of slow change and slower decision making are now gone for good. Markets can and do change very quickly. Major goals and resources of the different cohorts are not what they used to be. Car ownership, home ownership and larger home ownership are no longer the pervasive goals they once were. The purchase of needed goods no longer requires a trip to a store or stores. In fact, for a growing number of retail categories, buying something is no longer the major motivation for visiting retail areas.

Owners and managers wonder, “Is this the best of times or the worst of times?” Do they have too much information or too little? How do you go from information to decision and action? Can your center compete and if so, how? Are you sitting on a potential moneymaker or dumping amounts of good money after bad with incremental enhancements? To sell or not? Are the millennials sticking to their beloved urban environments or are they now coming to suburbia? What’s an owner to do?

Rarely are there straightforward answers to creating retail developments, but in these times it is harder than ever to determine how, when, or why to improve or create new retail. One thing though is certain, Consumers have proven they want more than just the internet experience. Malls are closing and others changing format and focus, adding new retailers and non-retail uses. Most department stores are out, but a host of new potential tenant attractions are in. Downtowns are hot, but increasingly so expensive that many baby boomers and millennials must find other places to set up house. This means along with the risks, there is an opportunity not seen since the end of WW2.

There is a large population seeking to work/live /play (and that includes shop) in environments that have some of the excitement and innovation of downtowns and urban streets. These people have to spend more time and money (school loans) to live and work and are looking for places that have decent public transportation with a feeling of “city” without the expenses of major downtowns. Fortunately, many towns around Boston can qualify with some tweeking, such as the introduction of vibrant new tenants, alterations in parking management, rezoning with updated regulations for parking and sidewalk use, new ideas for a central focus areas and for community get-togethers, coffee shops , cafes and restaurants, education, entertainment and strategies for private/public cooperation.

If this resonates with you and you are wondering how/if/what should I do? Then it is time to call a consultant.

Carol Todreas is a principal at Todreas Hanley Associates, Cambridge, Mass.