Events

The retail industry's two major organizations are applauding reports that the House will drop efforts to repeal debit card swipe reform.   

Start your engines: Ace Café, a motorcycle and car-themed chain, has parked itself in downtown Orlando.     The 35,000-sq-ft. entertainment, dining and retail destination is the first North American location of the London-based brand and the sixth Ace Cafe in the world. Ace Cafe Orlando spans two floors and features a full-service restaurant, four bars, a coffee bar, a stage, a mezzanine that overlooks the main floor dining area and stage, and private and semi-private spaces for groups.  

Among several developers reporting positive signs for leasing at the RECon Show in Las Vegas was Olshan Properties.   Head of Retail Ken Marshall said media reports about retail’s downfall did not ring true at his company. “The first few months of 2017 generated significant leasing activity throughout our highly-diversified retail portfolio and, most notably, within our retail holdings that are housed in mixed-use environments,” he said, noting that the trend began last year.  

Great personal experiences are what separate brick-and-mortar retail from its virtual cousin on the Web, and high-end experiences will soon be coming to luxury stores.   That’s one of 10 key elements to increase foot traffic introduced at RECon this week by Vicki Eickelberger, managing director of Big Red Rooster, a store design unit of JLL.  

Twenty retail executives traveled to the nation's capitol on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the proposed border adjustment tax (BAT).   

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett won’t have occasion to announce a championship for the OKC Thunder this year, but he did stop by the RECon show in Las Vegas to crown the OKC Outlets.   The former Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City was sold by CBL to The Outlet Resource Group and Singerman Real Estate earlier this month. The new owners wasted no time putting its own brand on the center. “OKC” is the abbreviation commonly used by NBA fans to identify the Thunder.  

Deborah Butler grew up in a college town. More importantly, she watched her family grow one store into a mega-retail-complex in Gainesville, Florida, that keeps on growing. The University of Florida has been very, very good to Butler and her family, and Butler has lots to say about the symbiotic relationship of higher education and retail.