Where is the “New” news in Retail?

For all those people who lived under a rock the last 2 months, the overwhelming amount of news coming from the retail industry is that of Lidl’s Expansion in the U.S., Walmart’s purchase of Jet.com or Bonobos, and Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods. While I recognize these are relevant stories, it reflects where our industry is when these, particularly Lidl, have dominated the headlines for weeks upon end. With the risk of bursting the bubbles of these stories, I’d like to comment on why that is.

I acknowledge some will say, are you kidding me to challenge these stories? I’m not challenging them or the newsworthiness of them, they are big news and without question relevant, but not everyone is and will immediately or in the long term be affected by this. Moreover, the clear majority of Landlord’s, Developers, and Brokers are NOT affected by this day-to-day. Maybe my world is too simple, but if it does not affect how I feed my family, why spend so much time considering it. Let the “pundits” (if we have them) in our industry discuss this. I mean really, how does Walmart’s acquisition affect vacancy rates in your market place? It doesn’t.

Maybe I’m just not a big speculator on the impact of events, or maybe I have a point. If you’re reading this blog, why don’t you ask yourself as it applies to your business, “will this REALLY affect me?” So then why are you spending so much time discussing it at meetings and having an opinion about it? The retail sector is evolving and this is another step in that evolution process. Get used to it