With the turmoil in the brick-and-mortar retail market brought on by online shopping's influence, not every retailer is still seeing positive growth. However, the market for retail real estate is still active. Efficient real estate portfolio management can be critical whenever property is changing hands and, in defiance of financial uncertainty, January has seen movement from large players in the market.
Wal-Mart has committed to a new superstore in downtown Chicago, its second location of that size in the metropolis. With that completed, it has designs on opening a third before 2012 is over. Even companies weathering drops in profit are pushing on with new store openings and acquisitions. Swedish clothing giant H&M has designs on establishing new locations worldwide in the coming year, despite mixed sales results.
"Our strong expansion continued during the year. We opened 266 new stores net, five new markets were added and we created around 7,000 new jobs," explained CEO Karl-Johan Persson. "We are also planning for a strong expansion in 2012 with approximately 275 new stores net."
Real estate portfolio management could prove extremely critical in 2012 as chains, undaunted by the tough retail conditions they face, force through their building plans. A simple decrease in shoppers has not slaked the desire to expand.
