A new industry report says that, after withstanding the upheavals of Covid 19 and supply chains issues that followed in its path, the country’s retail sector is enjoying a remarkably robust 2022.
Published by the New York-based International Council of Shopping Centers, the report notes that retail sales in the nation’s shopping centers were up by 17% at the end of last year, while retailers’ delinquency rates with their landlords had dropped by this spring to 7.5%, down from a high of 18% two summers ago.
Similarly, traffic at the nation’s shopping centers has rebounded since the Covid outbreak, when customer visits to such establishments were off by a historic 93%. Now those same retailers have seen a nearly complete return to business, with traffic down by only 7%.
But the sales increases at various retail venues, while on the upside, has been uneven, according to the report, 2022 State of the Industry. Movie theaters are recording a 207% increase in business, from early 2021 to early this year, while shoe store traffic was up by 60%.
Beauty supply stores, meanwhile, saw a 56% year-over-year increase.
Spaces that seem to be a product of pandemic-style shopping have also made themselves known, says the report, noting: “Retails are adapting to new consumer shopping habits by reimagining stores as design centers and e-commerce hubs, making them a key component of an omni-channel strategy.”
At the same time, “smaller, direct-to-consumer brands looking to scale up are also championing stores as a core component of their business.”
The report additionally forecasts an increase in sortation centers, staff-free stores, and the building of more open-air shopping centers.
Representing around two dozen shopping center councils globally, the ICSC two years ago announced that its initials would now stand for “Innovating Commerce Servicing Communities.”
By Garry Boulard
