How real estate intelligence is redefining retail growth
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
| Are malls cool again? |
| Published Monday, June 9, 2025 11:00 am |
This is a summary
"Macy’s and JCPenney still play a key role in drawing customers to malls, but empty anchor implants like entertainment brands, fitness centers, and restaurants are increasingly building new traffic across longer ranges of hours, declares Placer.ai’s latest Mall Report.
One key participant in this trending phenomenon is a brand that most retail experts thought had run its course: Barnes & Noble. In recent years, the land’s leading bookseller has reinvented itself in smaller stores (15,000 sq. ft. versus 25,000 sq. ft.) redesigned to be “hangouts” for local customers with better lighting, more open layouts, and opportunities for social interaction."
Read the original on Chain Store Age
Are malls cool again? | Chain Store Age
Image credit to Viktor Bystrov on Unsplash
Retailers are expanding again—but with far more discipline. Today, it’s not about opening the most stores, but choosing locations that can truly win. Real estate intelligence is reshaping decisions by tying together customer movement, store performance and financial impact, allowing brands to validate formats faster, negotiate smarter and align real estate strategy with bottom-line results. The retailers who treat data as a daily habit—not a quarterly report—are the ones building portfolios that can flex with consumer behavior and stay future-proof.
Tariffs under the Trump administration have become so unpredictable that retailers are struggling to keep up, with costs shifting faster than buying teams can plan. Because orders are usually placed months—sometimes nearly a year—in advance, the on-again, off-again tariff changes have disrupted long-standing vendor relationships, forced last-minute capacity bets, and pushed buyers to reorder their entire sourcing strategies. Big names like Best Buy and Ikea have already shifted production away from China, while smaller retailers face far greater pressure as they juggle longer lead times, unreliable suppliers, and tighter holiday deadlines. As experts point out, this volatile trade environment is accelerating a major industry shift: retailers must evolve from lean, efficiency-focused supply chains to more flexible, resilient ones—or risk being left behind.
IKEA's net profit fell nearly one-third to 1.5 billion euros from 2.2 billion euros in fiscal year 2025, as the company absorbed the impact of U.S. tariffs and rising commodity prices while maintaining lower prices for franchisees and customers. Total revenues remained essentially flat at 26.3 billion euros, with total IKEA sales declining 1% to 44.6 billion euros due to lower wholesale prices introduced in 2024. Despite the profit decline, sales volumes grew 2.6% and store visits increased nearly 2%, reaching 915 million, as the company opened 66 new locations globally. IKEA plans to maintain current wholesale price levels in fiscal 2026 to ensure stability and affordability despite continued pressure on profitability.