Other than their flagships, retailers are downsizing their footprints, says Laura Pomerantz, CEO of Laura Pomerantz Real Estate (right, whom we snapped yesterday with colleague Betty Ende). Scoop, for instance—which she is helping shop for space nationally, including in Williamsburg and around the Bowery—shrunk its Highland Park, Texas, store from 5,000 to 3,000 SF, and the store is doing more business than before. (We don’t always take pictures of our sources in front of walls, but when we do, it’s because they turned their logo into wallpaper.)
But never fear brick-and-mortar, she says. By 2020, Chinese travelers will be the largest group of US tourists, and they want to shop in stores, not online. Laura believes the Internet and sales floors can work well together, pointing to Sephora and J.Crew. Sephora also is smart with its locations. Take its search for Meatpacking space: When everyone else was looking on 14th, Sephora went south to Ninth Avenue between Little W 12th and Gansevoort, achieving both lower rent and a cross-section of tourist, resident, and worker traffic.
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