This Is What Online Retailers Really Think About Leasing Physical Stores

With traditional retailers closing stores at unprecedented rates in the UK and U.S. over the past few years, the great hope of the real estate world has been that new retailers, many of which started life online, will take their place. 

There have been a few examples, seized upon with a slight air of frenzy by those that own or lease retail real estate, including eyewear brand Warby Parker and, of course, e-commerce giant Amazon. But several questions remain open in the post-pandemic world: How much store real estate do digital retail brands really need? And what do they want from landlords to persuade them to take space?

A good guy to ask is Matt Truman, CEO and co-founder of True Global, an investment firm that buys and backs both retailers and retail technology companies. The company has £1B of assets under management, including a new £300M fund raised last month to buy and build more brands. It also has partnerships with giant retailers and property companies like Walgreens, 7-Eleven, Oxford Properties and Grosvenor. These companies want access to True’s insight about how the world of retail is changing. 

In terms of the retailers the company buys, True specialises in digital-first, direct-to-consumer brands, meaning companies that started online to reach customers directly rather than through third-party websites — exactly the kind of brand real estate owners hope will open physical stores. True's retailers include bike company Ribble and womenswear brand…

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Love, Rivalry And Bad Bosses: The Irrational Side Of The Debate Over Work

Bisnow's new podcast series, Office Politics: The Battle For The Future Of Work, is an in-depth examination into the raging debate surrounding when and where we work, and how that will affect not just how we use offices, but the operation of society itself. Featuring academics, authors, business leaders and workers, weekly episodes will look at how the potential shift to more remote work will affect productivity and the economy, social equality and workplace diversity, human psychology, the fight against climate change and the future of cities. You can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music.

To really understand the future of the office, one must first get their head around an often overlooked fact: The office isn’t only a place of work. 

“So much of the future of work strategies, the work reinvention strategies, are about the rational parts of work,” Gartner Chief of HR Research Brian Kropp told Bisnow for the third episode of its podcast series Office Politics: The Battle For The Future Of Work.

"Like how are we going to get work done? Who is going to be sitting where? ... Those sorts of really important but very rational questions that are out there. [But] you have to ask yourself questions like, 'Why do people go into an office?'"

Solely focusing on work ignores that offices are also places of friendship, rivalry, love and sex. Places where young people discover who they are and what they want in life. Places of triumph and despair.To create workplaces fit for the future, real estate owners must grasp the irrational side of office…

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