Nordstrom. Walmart. Whole Foods. Starbucks. CVS. Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers.
These big chains and others have closed stores in major US cities recently, raising alarm about the future of retail in some the country's most prominent downtowns and business districts.
A glut of storesSome of those policymakers, including both Republican and Democratic leaders, have pointed to crime as a chief reason for the closures, following videos of brazen shoplifting incidents. So while the big-city closures may capture national attention, in reality they're often part of closures a brand implements across the nation.
The rise of remote work has damaged urban downtown shopping areas, which were designed to cater to office workers commuting back and forth daily. They left larger, more expensive cities like San Francisco and New York and headed to smaller, cheaper Sun Belt cities such as Phoenix and Houston, the JPMorgan Chase Institute found.
And though crime isn't the biggest factor in many cases, higher levels of shoplifting and other losses have taken some toll. In cities where retailers are growing, such Phoenix, Houston and Dallas, average rental prices were $22 and $23 per square foot.Replacing a Nordstrom with another department store, or swapping out a CVS for a different drug store chain, is unlikely to be sustainable, experts say.
Streets could be blocked to cars on weekends and other hours. Cities can also host street fairs, food festivals, live music, art exhibits and other events to draw foot traffic downtown. Cities can provide financial incentives to encourage landlords to offer temporary and more flexible leases and loosen regulations to speed up the permitting process for them."Can retail be more responsive?" said Paco Underhill, the founder of behavioral research and consulting firm Envirosell."Can you have a space that is Crocs during summer and Canada Goose during winter?"
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