DALLAS — The Retail Connection, an 18-month-old company here, is reaching out to stores with real estate and investment services in an effort to boost the stores’ sales and plans for the future.
The company represents more than 120 retail clients, including Neiman Marcus, Gap, Old Navy, Belk and Lane Bryant, and has negotiated in excess of 15 million square feet of leases, said co-chairmen Steve Lieberman and Alan Shor. Lieberman is chief executive officer and Shor is president.
The Retail Connection is one of the latest entrants in the crowded retail leasing field here, which also includes The Staubach Cos., The Weitzman Group, Ross Perot Jr., CB Richard Ellis Inc., Henry S. Miller and Billingsley Co., among others.
The Dallas retail leasing market continues to grow as the fashion-conscious city’s population swells. According to Roddy Information, which tracks real estate and retail trends, the Dallas-Fort Worth area saw about 1.8 million square feet of new multitenant retail space come on the market in 2004, while retailers snapped up 3.1 million square feet of existing space. Average retail rents are about $20 a square foot and higher, depending on location.
The Retail Connection provides brokerage, advisory and investment services to business and property owners, including strategic planning and new-store rollout timelines, tenant representation, project leasing, general brokerage and merchant banking services. The company, which has its headquarters near downtown Dallas, is expanding with new offices in San Antonio and Los Angeles.
“Our growing team now includes over 40 people and we have represented hundreds of retailers with their real estate strategy and execution and many owners and developers with the lease and sale of their properties,” said Lieberman, former president of The Weitzman Group.
“Our specialized focus on retail and retailers gives us the ability to provide retail tenants, owners and investors an unparalleled source of market knowledge, insight and relationships,’’ he said. “We’re focused on closing the gap between the supply and demand of retail real estate. One of our specialties is high-speed store rollouts.”
Lieberman said a retail roll-out plan would start with an in-depth analysis of operations and a store’s ability to support concerted growth as well as making sure that target demographics are properly defined.
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“It goes way beyond simple demographics and involves a macroperspective of the desired trade area that a store wants to locate in. We maintain a sales performance database on all major U.S. retailers and have a team of analysts who study it and customize information for our clients.
“The biggest challenge for a retailer in the U.S. right now is the intense competitiveness of the retail environment,’’ he said. “We believe that the best way to position yourself as a retailer is to have better information on the competition and on the areas in which you want to locate. The toughest data to capture is often the most difficult or inefficient to get — performance data that’s beyond typical canned reports, and demographic reports that look at what’s going in a small radius around a proposed store. But that may not be how the trade area is defined. There are natural or physical barriers or other elements that define a shopping pattern.”
Lieberman and Shor believe traditional malls will remain a strong magnet for stores and consumers if positioned correctly in the market and if mall owners continue to invest in compelling upgrades with more cosmetically appealing properties and enticing tenant mixes.
“The traditional mall will weather the surge in popularity of retailers opening freestanding or off-the-mall stores as well as newer open-air lifestyle plazas with more European ambience, said Shor, former president and chief operating officer at Zale Corp. “There’s definitely room for both to succeed on the retail landscape.’’