The latest forecast for the U.S. retail property market over the next few years is looking bullish, with the industry buoyed by a strong and fast-growing economy, pent-up consumer demand because of the pandemic, and the desire for shoppers to connect with a human.
A panel of executives from brokerage JLL presented their first webinar update on retail since the end of last year, when the world was in the grips of COVID-19, in lockdowns and with mandated business closings. Last year there were predictions of a brick-and-mortar “retail Armageddon” because of the pandemic, according to Naveen Jaggi, president of JLL America Retail Advisory Services. It hasn’t turned out that way, he said.
“If nothing else, over the last seven months we’ve learned that retail is more resilient than I think anybody had expected back in the summer and fall of 2020,” Jaggi said. “There was a lot of talk about retail being hammered, and in many ways we were going to see this as the beginning of a long downfall in retail. And that’s not happened actually. To the contrary, retail has done quite well, remarkably well. And we’ve seen that in many different sectors of retail, whether it’s return to the mall, where foot traffic is getting back to business, the [food and beverage] business, and many others that are seeing great resilience.”