bcwessel
03-26-2011, 06:54 PM
Retailers recognize some big-box stores as too large
Philip Langdon | New Urban Network | LINK (http://newurbannetwork.com/article/retailers-recognize-some-big-box-stores-too-large-14382)
It turns out that there are only so many big-box stores that a typical region can support. After years of building one gargantuan store after another, some American retailers are having trouble filling those spaces, The Wall Street Journal reports. Consequently, tomorrow's stores will likely be somewhat different from today's.
Of the major big-box retailers, The Journal observes:
Some are becoming landlords, turning excess space over to other businesses. Others are trying to fill the space themselves by stretching into new products and services.
Sears Holdings Corp. is letting prospective tenants browse an online list of Kmart and Sears stores with space to rent. No deal seems too tiny: It let a Rockford, Ill. dental clinic set up shop in two Kmarts last year, though the venture fizzled after the owner ran into unrelated financial trouble.
"If you want 3,000 square feet in Sarasota, we can work with you on that," says Sears spokeswoman Kimberly Freely.
The flip side of this trend is that some chains see small — and in some cases, tiny — stores as part of their future.
A month ago, Best Buy became "the latest retail chain to go smaller, announcing last week that it was slowing growth of new big-box stores this year in favor of adding 150 Best Buy Mobile locations, focused on smartphones," The Journal notes. The company had earlier added musical instruments to the offerings in its standard stores, in an effort to fill floor space. The company is also adding health and exercise equipment in its large stores. . .
In some instances, the shift toward smaller stores could help make community retail areas more engaging and pedestrian-oriented, less dominated by cars and parking lots. But in other instances, unless there is public intervention, the shifting retail landscape may look a lot like the jumble that already exists along suburban corridors. . .
As some existing big-box stores empty out, the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance urges local officials and activists to take the following steps outlined in its Big Box Tool Kit:
• Limit where and how much land is zoned for retail development. This forces retailers to redevelop existing shopping centers rather than leaving them va- cant and moving on to open space, the Institute says.
• Adopt a Store Size Cap. This ensures that new stores are appropriately sized for the community and are not large enough to cause significant vacancies.
• Insist on multi-story, mixed-use buildings, which will be more durable and more easily adapted for a range of uses. (One example presented recently on New Urban Network is a project in Washington, DC, that will contain a Walmart store, several smaller retail spaces, and 315 apartments. That project has been well received by the DC Office of Planning.)
• Create an Economic Impact Review standard so that the need for new retail space is analyzed prior to the ap- proval of a project.
To further combat development of too much retail space, the Institute also suggests:
• Requiring developers to post a demolition bond that can be used by the city to demolish the structure and maintain the site should the store become vacant.
• Adopting a dark store ordinance that mandates that property owners market empty buildings as soon as they become vacant and voids any clauses in a retailer's lease that constrains the owner from leas- ing the property to another retailer.
Philip Langdon | New Urban Network | LINK (http://newurbannetwork.com/article/retailers-recognize-some-big-box-stores-too-large-14382)
It turns out that there are only so many big-box stores that a typical region can support. After years of building one gargantuan store after another, some American retailers are having trouble filling those spaces, The Wall Street Journal reports. Consequently, tomorrow's stores will likely be somewhat different from today's.
Of the major big-box retailers, The Journal observes:
Some are becoming landlords, turning excess space over to other businesses. Others are trying to fill the space themselves by stretching into new products and services.
Sears Holdings Corp. is letting prospective tenants browse an online list of Kmart and Sears stores with space to rent. No deal seems too tiny: It let a Rockford, Ill. dental clinic set up shop in two Kmarts last year, though the venture fizzled after the owner ran into unrelated financial trouble.
"If you want 3,000 square feet in Sarasota, we can work with you on that," says Sears spokeswoman Kimberly Freely.
The flip side of this trend is that some chains see small — and in some cases, tiny — stores as part of their future.
A month ago, Best Buy became "the latest retail chain to go smaller, announcing last week that it was slowing growth of new big-box stores this year in favor of adding 150 Best Buy Mobile locations, focused on smartphones," The Journal notes. The company had earlier added musical instruments to the offerings in its standard stores, in an effort to fill floor space. The company is also adding health and exercise equipment in its large stores. . .
In some instances, the shift toward smaller stores could help make community retail areas more engaging and pedestrian-oriented, less dominated by cars and parking lots. But in other instances, unless there is public intervention, the shifting retail landscape may look a lot like the jumble that already exists along suburban corridors. . .
As some existing big-box stores empty out, the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance urges local officials and activists to take the following steps outlined in its Big Box Tool Kit:
• Limit where and how much land is zoned for retail development. This forces retailers to redevelop existing shopping centers rather than leaving them va- cant and moving on to open space, the Institute says.
• Adopt a Store Size Cap. This ensures that new stores are appropriately sized for the community and are not large enough to cause significant vacancies.
• Insist on multi-story, mixed-use buildings, which will be more durable and more easily adapted for a range of uses. (One example presented recently on New Urban Network is a project in Washington, DC, that will contain a Walmart store, several smaller retail spaces, and 315 apartments. That project has been well received by the DC Office of Planning.)
• Create an Economic Impact Review standard so that the need for new retail space is analyzed prior to the ap- proval of a project.
To further combat development of too much retail space, the Institute also suggests:
• Requiring developers to post a demolition bond that can be used by the city to demolish the structure and maintain the site should the store become vacant.
• Adopting a dark store ordinance that mandates that property owners market empty buildings as soon as they become vacant and voids any clauses in a retailer's lease that constrains the owner from leas- ing the property to another retailer.