In a search for innovators in experiential retail,
Chain Store Age asked readers to nominate retail centers worthy of being named among the Top 10 Retail Center Experiences in the nation. The editors’ picks continue with No. 7 Santana Row:
Santana RowWhere better than San Jose for a mixed-use development where e-coms and alternative retailers thrive and jive with Crate & Barrel, the Container Store, and H&M?
“E-commerce wasn’t part of our vision when Santana Row opened in the ’90s,” said Federal Realty’s Western Region senior VP Jan Sweetnam. “That vision was to create a sense of discovery, bringing new retail concepts into 2,500-sq.-ft. spaces and have them change out every two or three years.”
Currently taking advantage of Santana Row’s open-ended leasing policies are Amazon Books, Tesla, Warby Parker, and b8ta, and Federal hopes to see the flow of experiential and experimental retail continue to come and go.
“We had Libratone in a space for 12 months and now in that space we have Fjallraven,” Sweetnam said. “This totally works for creating new experiences. People come here expecting something different every time.”
This is the seventh post in a series profiling the 10 selections from CSA's 2018 Top 10 Retail Center Experiences. Stay tuned for daily profiles of the remaining three centers from now until Aug. 3. Until then, catch up on what you missed: