Higher than anticipated sales on Black Friday have mall owners hoping that the coming holiday season will cure some of the persistent retail vacancy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Last week’s Black Friday sales totaled $52.2 billion, a record, according to research from the National Retail Federation. Meanwhile in the third quarter malls overall had a 9.4 percent vacancy rate — the highest since numbers began being recorded — according to Reis, a real estate analytics firm.

While mall operators do not rely hugely on holiday sales, the period is a useful bellwether for retail tenants and landlords about what outlets are ready to expand and when and if rents can go up, according to Jay Leupp, a portfolio manager at Lazard Asset Management, an investment manager for institutional clients.

“It’s a better sign and predictor of what retail tenant renewal and expansion activity is going to be going forward, particularly if retail sales are meaningfully stronger than expected,” Leupp said. [more]

Source: Center for an Urban Future

The uncertain economy may be finally catching up with chain stores in New York City, according to a study released today by the Center of an Urban Future. For the first time in the four-year history of the center’s annual study, the growth of chain stores in the city has slowed.

The number of national retail stores grew by 1.6 percent over the past year, as the 307 retailers included in last year’s ranking expanded to 6,994 stores in 2011 from a total of 6,883 stores in 2010, the study shows. But a 1.6 percent increase is far below the 4 percent rate of growth in chain stores between 2009 and 2010. — Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn at the announcement (source: Mayor’s Office)

This morning, the city announced an initiative to amp up efforts to promote small businesses and neighborhood retail corridors, through extensive marketing support and training programs. The city’s program, Building Blocks for Neighborhood Retail, will aid commercial areas in their efforts to market vacant space to potential tenants, providing them with demographic and market data profiles of their communities. The program is supposed to continue the successes the city says it has already seen in its efforts to attract new businesses to specially designated “commercial corridors”: in fiscal year 2011, 99 new businesses opened in commercial districts that were targeted by the Department of Small Business Services to attract new retailers. – Jane C. Timm [more]

Retail leasing activity may be up on Madison and Fifth avenues, Retail Traffic reported, with more chains signing deals, but it hasn’t been all good news for retail.
At the end of July, the national Luxury Consumption Index, tracked by Pennsylavia-based Unity Marketing, fell 16.8 points to 66.0 points, registering the biggest drop since the beginning of the recession, as affluent consumers registered the fluctuation in the stock market and began to spend less on luxury goods.
“Our surveys tend to be a little ahead of what’s going on with luxury companies and what we saw in the middle of the year was a sharp and steep decline in the confidence level of luxury consumers,” said Pam Danziger, president of Unity. [more]

Click chart to view the whole deal sheet summary

From the September issue:
The majority of recent commercial sales, as tracked by The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet in its September issue, have been for multi-family properties. In fact, multi-family sales accounted for 15 of the 40 commercial sales recorded, followed by development properties, which made up seven of the 40 and retail sales, which accounted for nearly $94.5 million, or six of the properties. Click here to see the full Deal Sheet summary. [more]

The U.S. retail sector is showing signs of a rebound, and that could have a much-needed positive impact on retail real estate, according to Cassidy Turley’s September retail report released yesterday.

The report cites U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data showing consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in July, the largest increase since December 2009, and wages and disposable income gained 0.4 percent. Combine these improvements with gas prices dropping 40 cents per gallon since mid-May, and consumers appear ready to spend for the first time since the start of 2011. In fact, since April, the retail sector has added 97,000 jobs to accommodate the trend. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has come to a preliminary deal with mall operator the Westfield Group to bring retail to the World Trade Center site, according to the Wall Street Journal. Terms of the agreement, which would see Westfield contribute $612.5 million toward construction costs for 365,000 square feet of retail space in return for a 50 percent stake in the development, are still being finalized.

If the deal goes ahead, retail would be spread throughout the complex, with some stores lining multiple levels of the large, open transit hub. The lower floors of office towers along Greenwich Street would be stores and restaurants, and some would overlook the memorial, which is currently under construction.
The complex has a target opening date of 2015. [more]

Spanish fashion retailer Mango is opening its second New York location at 7 West 34th Street this fall, DNAinfo reported. Although a spokesperson declined to comment on an exact opening date, staff at the store’s Soho location said it will probably be in early September.

Mango is just one in a string of upscale retail tenants coming to the area, DNAinfo reported. Japanese clothing store Uniqlo is set to open its third New York store on the stretch and Levi’s and Timberland footwear store just opened in May.

As The Real Deal previously reported, new stores are a boost for the landlords on 34th Street, who have seen an increase in rental rates and property values. There are 11 landlords on the block between Fifth and Sixth avenues who rent to approximately 30 retailers. Top owners are SL Green Realty and JEMB Realty, which own the two large properties, at the western edge of the street. [more]

Vacant storefronts in prime city areas are finding tenants, and many stores are seeing rents as high as they were in 2007. In order to survive, or find a bargain, retailers are getting creative and looking in less popular neighborhoods, or on side streets, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s a tale of two cities,” said Gene Spiegelman, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield, of the price gap.
In 2008, retail vacancy reached 9 percent on the desirable upper stretch of Fifth Avenue, according to data provided by Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and sales at Prudential Douglas Elliman. The vacancy rate now sits around 7.5 percent. Rents fell to less than $2,000 a square foot, still the highest in the city. The vacancy rate hit 15 percent on Madison Avenue, according to Consolo, while in Soho, the rate went above 11 percent. [more]

Click the image for the complete Deal Sheet Summary

From the June issue: Winick Realty topped retail brokers for space signed from mid-April to mid-May, representing tenants in 41,829 square feet of space. It’s the second consecutive month that Winick topped the retail competition in The Real Deal’s Deal Sheet Summary. SRS Real Estate Partners and JW Burke & Company rounded out the top three. Overall, 226,257 square feet of retail leases were inked over 70 transactions during the four week span. Food and beverage stores accounted for 29 of those leases. Click here to see the complete Deal Sheet Summary.