Several prominent retailers have filed for bankruptcy and three of the biggest bank failures in U.S. history have taken place in the past few months, but none of that has yet blunted demand for retail space. Although consumer retail spending dropped slightly in February and March, retail landlords showed optimism discussing their first-quarter earnings, with many reporting rising rents amid high demand and guarded optimism that the sector — which had so long been the laggard among commercial real estate asset classes — will be the standout performer this year. 
“Do we see any slowdown? I think the quick answer is, no,” Macerich Senior Executive Vice President for Leasing Doug Healey said during the REIT's earnings call last week. “If you think about pre-pandemic, there are a lot of retailers that were struggling, many failed, most failed during the pandemic and those…  Read the full story here. | 
