What are your thoughts on the future of Retail Real Estate?
With industrial distribution centers becoming a bigger player in the market, and many companies adopting cheaper, faster shipping, is eCommerce becoming a bigger threat than before to retail?



[{"id": "cnhdpbs", "text": "In short, yes. Think about how Walmart undercuts a lot of mom and pops with their larger purchasing power and lower overhead. International distribution centers will start to do this to larger retail fronts who are behind the game in ecommerce. \n\nA good question to ask is how would you repurpose the threatened retail space? \n\n", "replies": [{"id": "cnhmwv8", "text": "This is the right question. Yes retail stores won't exist in the future but what will take their place?", "replies": [{"id": "cnhunsj", "text": "then I guess to be more direct...should i get out of retail while I still can?", "replies": [{"id": "cnhx7dv", "text": "There has be like a billion SF of bix box retail / malls/ etc that pretty much everyone thinks is going to transition to something else eventually.  I highly doubt it will all wind up tear downs, and if it does, for what?  Its a fun discussion about what will happen but its not going to happen next week.  If you are semi good at what you do I think you can roll with it and you will be at the front of the line as it happens and tons of space gets transacted from traditional retail to whatever it becomes.", "replies": [{"id": "cnjt8b1", "text": "I'd agree here, this is still a long way out. Definitely interesting to think about and it would never hurt to understand what your property is zoned for and how else you can utilize the space but for the time being, if you have strong tenants in a good location you shouldn't shy away from it because of something that may not happen for years.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cnhyvb0", "text": "Depends on the retail. Brick and mortar stores are still needed for showrooms and likely a good amount of B+/A retail will survive and thrive in the future. For example, Warby Parker hits over $1,000 psf sales at their physical locations, which is incredible. There is definitely a lot of value in being able to see and physically touch the goods before buying. Claims that retail is dying are probably greatly exaggerated.\n\nWhat you need to be careful about are the C malls and retail in markets that don't have any or declining population growth. A lot of these, once they go dark would likely be demos.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]