subject: Chris Maguire, Cypress Equities Ceo, Can Add "retail Real Estate Forecaster To His Resume [print this page] During the 2008 market downturn, the opportunity to experience financial growth was likely one of the very last things any real estate professional could anticipate. And rightly so. However, Chris Maguire, CEO of Cypress Equities and SRS Real Estate Partners was, and remains, one rare exception among the highly competitive commercial, or retail real estate industry.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Maguire came to the conclusion that if his clients in the retail real estate market were unable to grow and expand their business presence, then he would help them navigate the new unsettling climate by helping them minimize, or in some cases, completely avoid financial loss by shrinking their amount of share in real estate.
Despite the fact that many real estate developers are continue to recover from the 2008 downturn, the current industry climate is experiencing slow, yet steady economic growth. And although retail real estate professionals note that geographic location plays a major role in the rate of success and failure in real estate, growth appears to be present nationwide.
When addressing the future of retail real estate, Maguire is optimistic and notes a recent trend among e-commerce store owners that has created new business for Cypress Equities: expanding business beyond the the Web and establishing a presence in shopping centers with brick-and-mortar locations. He noted that online fashion retailers are especially eager to take this step because of consumers' desire to try on the clothing. In addition to clothing retailers, e-commerce giants like Ebay and Etsy are currently testing temporary, "pop-up" brick-and-mortar locations during busy shopping seasons.
According to a December 2012 report from The New York Times, Andy Dunn, CEO and co-founder of men's clothing retailer, Bonobos, decided to transition from a strictly e-commerce business to that of one with six supplemental brick-and-mortar locations and consequently reported the average in-store transaction was twice as much as the average online transaction. And aside sales data, Dunn expressed that first-time store visitors return sooner than the online visitors.
This finding only confirms what Maguire has said:
"At the end of the day the American consumers are going to shop. They are going to want to touch and feel. What's happening on the Internet is a good thing for consumers, but I don't think it's something that's going to replace traditional retail brick-and mortar-stores. I think you're going to see it evolve as retail has for the last 100 years."
