Report: Department store closings are overblown

Malls and shopping centers are not endangered, but evolving species, International Council of Shopping Centers CEO Thomas McGee told the Miami Herald this week.



“There is stress in the department store segment and closures. When you look at those stores as a percentage of retail square footage, it’s small,” McGee said in a wide-ranging interview with the paper. “But those spaces are big and prominent and they need to be handled in a systematic way.”



McGee pointed out that occupancy at most centers are close to full, but not with the traditional tenants. “It’s not just retail real estate, but consumer real estate and looking at what does the consumer want and need,” he said.



In many cases, that’s not more apparel stores, but things movie complexes, restaurants, arcades, and rock-climbing facilities, he said.



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