Retail Lifestyle Change

With the turning the new new year, comes change.  From persons to personalities, to lifestyle to Retail.  Now is the time where there are seen many Retail Lifestyle Centers changing, well evolving is more like it.

We have come to a point in time where lifestyle is overcoming retail, and so has the tenant mix within lifestyle centers. Where the older version of lifestyle centers was that of high-end product and service units, we are now experiencing major shift of what the term “Lifestyle” actually means.

That shift is headed to ‘what does the would be shopper do during the day/night/weekend/’, and now has come to seeing ‘lifestyle’ units within the actual ‘lifestyle’ centers. Salons, Cleaners, Workout Centers, Karate, Hobby, etc…

One of the biggest factors to this changes is the presence of online shopping. Online shopping has risen considerably over the past few years, and has brought the retail development community to a screeching halt. Really any would be shopper coming into the lifestyle center is a pleasure to have. Thus, the change of having a yoga studio within the used to be high-end center, allows them to get there total body pleasures taken care of in one visit. Perform your yoga, then go out shopping without having to get back in the car.

We shall see how 2011 shapes these centers into strip malls all over again!