REAL ESTATE

CBRE’s U.S. head of retail research Ebere Anokute reports that consumers are eating more at home due to the value offered by grocery stores.

JLL executive VP of retail advisory services Ken Shishido looks at how ethnic grocery chains — once confined to specific neighborhoods serving their respective cultural communities — are aggressively moving into mainstream markets nationwide.

SRS Real Estate Partners president Garrett Colburn explains how data and AI tools sit at the core of how SRS collaborates with retailers and clients, providing insights such as rent comparables, sales volumes, and other key inputs that inform decision-making.

Poag Shopping Centers CEO Josh Poag advises that hands-on management of smaller open-air centers is crucial, noting that they are places people visit weekly and that their expectations around cleanliness, safety, access, convenience and experience are high.

Mall of America’s chief business development and marketing officer Jill Renslow declares that the most successful retail environments are not defined by transactions alone, but by their ability to create reasons to visit.

Centennial senior VP of business transformation & intelligence Elizabeth Boldin Thomas explains how the real power of artificial intelligence is unlocked only when the people wielding it are trained, guided and empowered to use it to its fullest potential.

Second Horizon co-founders Howard Levine and Camilo Varela are on a nationwide search for quality malls that have been under-invested in and are remaking them to more closely serve the needs and wants of their communities.

American Dream CMO Adam Petrick details how, for 39 straight days, the mega-mall in the New Jersey Meadowlands will be taking advantage of its location next to the stadium where the World Cup Final will take place in July.