Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/838473
www.blendwithps.com l ww.psseasoning.com www.blendwithps.com l ww.psseasoning.com www.blendwithps.com l ww.psseasoning.com B R O U G H T T O Y O U B Y Booth #2172 Booth #2172 Custom Blending • Product Development Commercial Quantities or Small Batches Private Label • Custom Packaging Gluten-Free • Heart-Healthy • Natural Products & More Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 2172 RETRO TREND: GROCERY STORES IN MALLS As many as 324 department stores will vacate their colossal spac- es this year, leaving 36 million square feet of retail space up for grabs, according to a report by JLL Retail, the largest third-party retail property manager in the U.S. But as department stores lose their appeal with consumers more apt to shop at discount stores, online, or at specialty stores, landlords are thinking outside of the box and turning to restaurateurs and grocers. James Cook, Americas director of research, retail at JLL, says, "It's actually a retro trend. Initially, enclosed malls in the 50s had grocery stores in the mix but as time progressed, that became unfashionable. Today, malls need to reinvent their value to the cus- tomer, and the right food option can play a role there." Early adapters include Wegmans, which plans to take over a 194,000-square-foot JCPenney footprint at retail real estate company GGP's Natick Mall in Massachusetts; the renowned restaurant Nobu, which will occu- py a portion of what was once Saks Fifth Avenue at The Galleria in Houston; and the highly antici- pated 365 by Whole Foods to open in a portion of the emp- tied Sears at the College Mall in Bloomington, Ind. What do consumers think? According to a 2017 GGP Strategy & Analytics report, 49 percent of mall shoppers said they would like to see a grocery store in their shopping center. Cook adds, "Going to Wegmans or Whole Foods is a food adventure and that fits in with what mall operators are trying to create." SUMMER 2017 23