Industry Headlines for Mar. 5
Short-term mall space for startups and minipreneurs
Springwise, NL
Last fall Urban Retail’s Oakland Mall in Troy, Mich., began offering small startups and minipreneurs special leasing rates that make it easier for them to test the waters among shoppers at the mall without entering into a long-term contract. Specifically, 12 kiosks have been placed throughout the mall and can be leased for as little as USD 300 for a two-day weekend special …
GGP finds buyers
Baltimore Sun, US
General Growth Properties Inc., the mall owner at risk of bankruptcy, received offers of almost $400 million for properties including Baltimore’s Harborplace & the Gallery and Boston’s Faneuil Hall, according to a person familiar with the matter …
Shopping centre and retail property bosses offer help for tenants in tough times
Liverpool Daily Post, UK
Shopping centre and retail property managers pledged to help shop keepers ride the recession. Jeremy Collins, president of the British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC), opened their three-day spring conference at Liverpool’s BT Convention Centre with a call to listen to their tenants …
Indoor Services and Mobile Advertising Trial Started in a Helsinki Shopping Center
Cellular-News, UK
ÂNokia has announced a public trial at Kamppi Shopping Center in Helsinki, Finland to test consumer response to an indoor mapping and information service which also offers local retail promotions and vouchers via a mobile device. The trial is being run in cooperation with Kamppi Center Investments Oy …
Shopping malls go into cost-minimizing mode
Chicago Tribune, US
Picture yourself at Yorktown Center in Lombard in December, the mall all gussied up for the 2009 holiday season. Just don’t look too closely at the decorations. You might notice that only every other pole and tree is festooned with lights. It’s a cost-cutting measure under consideration, one of a number that are subtly changing the way shopping malls operate as managers cope with a recession that has hit the retailing industry hard …
Retailers could save billions by going green
Edie, UK
According to research conducted for Envirowise, a Government-funded body set up to advise the business community, companies could make huge savings by accurately tracking their environmental performance and taking steps to improve it …
Malls race to stay relevant in downturn
Wall Street Journal, US
Wyoming Valley Mall, an aging retail complex that sits off a busy interstate in this blue-collar city, is fighting to reinvent itself amid the toughest climate for retailers in decades. Two years ago, its owner spent $8 million on a facelift for the 916,000-square-foot mall to brighten its dowdy central walkways and entrances. That helped lure new and more youth-oriented retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and a second American Eagle Outfitters Inc. store …
Mall wants Manilow music to drive out unruly teens
Associated Press, US
It’ll be Barry Manilow versus the mall rats. The New Zealand city of Christchurch hopes that putting the American crooner’s smooth and gentle tones into the mix of music to be broadcast through the central mall district can pacify unruly teens who congregate there_ or at least convince them to go elsewhere …
