Retail Renaissance Is Leaving South Jersey Behind Amid Big-Box Closures
High demand and a dearth of new construction has left New Jersey’s retail market with an occupancy rate of 96%, but the state’s Philadelphia suburbs are a notable outlier.
Statewide, 2.1M SF of retail space has been absorbed over the past four quarters. But Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties actually saw move-outs outpace move-ins by 177K SF over the 12 months leading up to September, according to a brief from CoStar.
The analysis zeroed in on Camden County, where there are 2M SF of retail available for lease after businesses moved out of 1.1M SF over the past year. Move-outs outpaced move-ins by 133K SF over the same period. Property owners were able to quickly fill some vacated spaces earlier this year, but listings remained on the market longer in the second half of 2024.
In Cherry Hill, a municipality defined by its vast array of big-box shopping destinations, some 755K SF of retail space is available for lease, or about 8.4% of its total retail inventory.
That trend was partly driven by the closure of several discount stores in recent months, according to the report.
Gabe’s shuttered its 40K SF location at the Garden State Pavillion in August. Big Lots put its 33K SF space in the Cherry Hill Shopping Center on the market after the chain declared bankruptcy in September.
The largest retail properties currently available for lease in Cherry Hill are a 100K SF space at Marlton Plaza and a 94K block at the Barclay Farms Shopping Center.
The trend doesn’t appear to be impacting the nearby Cherry Hill Mall, which was identified as PREIT’s top-performing property earlier this year, according to the Courier Post.
The REIT announced that three new retailers — Lacoste, Columbia Sportswear and Mango — had signed leases at the mall in August. The August press release also includes details about seven other new stores.
PREIT also owns the Moorestown Mall, which is just a 10-minute drive away and listed as the company’s 14th-best performer. The Bel Canto Asset Growth Fund plans to begin building 375 apartments on a 6.3-acre outparcel near the mall, which Bel Canto bought from PREIT for $11.8M in 2022, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.
PREIT is also under contract to sell the Exton Square Mall in Chester County to Abrams Realty & Development. Abrams plans to tear down part of the existing structure for a multifamily project.
