Restaurants Stand as Area of Strength in Retail Centers

New York, NY, August 3, 2016—“For the first time in nearly two decades, restaurant sales surpassed supermarket sales last year,” reports CNBC.

This impacts the traditional retail real estate landscape. While ecommerce may be pulling shoppers away from brick-and-mortar shopping centers, restaurants are pulling them back in.

"It changes the landscape of retail real estate fundamentally, because what we have is a really fundamental shift in the different categories that are performing well and those that are struggling," said Melina Cordero, CBRE's head of retail research in the Americas. "With restaurants that are coming in with strong, high growth, they're sort of the saving grace for landlords of these retail spaces to come in and drive traffic and sales."