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Phoenix Retail Closures Leave Opportunity for NewcomersNov 14, 2008
Phoenix Business Journal
Greg Abbott
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Commercial real estate brokers who specialize in retail aren’t singing the blues this holiday season, even though more than 1.8 million square feet of retail space will be vacated by the first of the year as a handful of big-box retailers close.
Greg Abbott, principal and investment broker for Arizona Retail Advisors, calls the situation “classic economic Darwinism” and said he’s not surprised.
In other words, underperforming retailers such as Mervyns, Linens ’N Things, Circuit City and Shoe Pavilion will be weeded out during times of economic downturn, making way for new and stronger stores.
“There are already other retailers coming in and looking at the spaces,” Abbott said.
Two other Phoenix-based retail experts agree: Rick Murphy, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis, and David Cheatham, executive vice president and managing principal of Staubach Retail.
“Our market has been very tight and prevented retailers from coming into it,” Murphy said. “So, in every downturn, there is an opportunity for them.”
The current situation is similar to what happened in the early 2000s, when HomeBase and Montgomery Ward vacated several million square feet, said Cheatham. “In a matter of moments, it was snapped up,” he said....article continued in PDF