5 Surging Retail Corridors
Whether they've announced themselves seemingly overnight or been established for decades and are taking a new route, these shopping districts are currently on the tip of retail brokers' tongues.
This perpetually popular food and nightlife destination has lately been welcoming more dry goods tenants to rub up against beloved haunts like the Granada Theater. Brokers attribute the addition of Trader Joes and Walmart Neighborhood Market, among others, to new residential development like the Icon and an increasingly vibrant arts district
Once the epicenter of Brooklyn's alternative and locavore cultures, Williamsburg's main drag is now poised for the national spotlight. Whole Foods and an Apple store will soon face each other on the strip, with the latter tenant having just confirmed a 20K SF deal at 247 Bedford, where rents range from $185 to $200 a foot. Dunkin' Donuts, Urban Outfitters and, most tellingly, J. Crew are among the other household names to have recently nipped away at Williamsburg's indie cred by opening locations on or just off the street.
This area's retail bona fides are well established, with the usual suspects (LV, Neiman Marcus, Barneys, Tiffany) making it an obligatory stop on the global shopping circuit. But the submarket has been riding San Francisco's out of control real estate boom to greater glory. Cushman & Wakefield recently reported that retail rents here soared 30% last year—the most of any "Main Street" in the world—to $650 a foot, putting Union Square within reach of Rodeo Drive ($675 per square foot).
The shopping districts of LA can seem as sprawling and eclectic as the city itself. But while La Brea Avenue (between Melrose Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard) had thrived as a go-to destination for antiques and street wear, the last few years have seen a spate of shops (whyrHymer) and galleries (Kerson, LAB ART) remake it as a nexus of all things hip and, of course, hyperlocal. The developer-designated District La Brea lies between 1st and 2nd Streets.
It was "up and coming" years ago, but the Design District these days can seem like one big construction zone. And the phalanx of super-luxe retailers (including Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Van Clef & Arpels, Christian Dior and Bulgari) opening just this month could put the neighborhood, as masterminded by developer Craig Robins, on par with Palm Beach's Worth Avenue and LA's Rodeo Drive. Well-heeled visitors and residents from South America and Russia can take credit for the Downtown Miami retail boom, which has busted Bal Harbour Shops' near-monopoly on (and restrictive leases for) A-list retailers.
