Any “reopening” of our gathering spaces and retail establishments will be only a partial return to what things looked like pre-coronavirus. But despite this, our spirits are high here at Graffito, because it does feel that we are collectively entering a new phase in responding to this crisis: shifting from panic and shock to problem solving and opportunity assessment.
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Restaurants. No category other than live entertainment has been hit as hard by the COVID-19 fallout. And no category in the retail sector employs as many people nor is as important to the culture of our urban neighborhoods.
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We have, and always will, fly the local-first piece proudly in our messaging. Because it is core to our approach, our world-view, and the way we understand value creation in the urban mixed-use context. Today, with COVID-19 related considerations dominating our conversations, decision making, and daily life, we are thinking a lot about how localism will play out in the months and years ahead.
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And as we evaluate additional projects together into the future, we are doubling-down on our shared belief that succeeding in the retail world is not about short-term hits, but about a steadfast commitment to long-term value creation.
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As we enter this 5th week of coronavirus shutdowns here in the Northeast, many of us are starting to shift from crisis reacting to crisis planning. This is a welcome development and has been a positive change to many of our conversations with some of you this past week.
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Last week Vaugh Tan shared four principles for how businesses should respond to uncertainty at this moment (and generally) and it’s must read content.
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Liquor licenses are too expensive in the City of Boston ($450K) and serve as an unnecessary and enormous barrier of entry for most entrepreneurs in an already challenged market even pre COVID-19.
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We’ve been aggressively warning our landlord clients since mid-March that failure to tactfully, sincerely, and immediately engage with tenants during this time of crisis possess a slew of risks — reputational, transactional and economic.
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COVID-19’s impact on retail real estate will force us all to delve deeper into our tenant’s businesses than perhaps any of us ever have.
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I was quoted in this article that ran in the Boston Globe today. I think it is a very fair and important article, but I flinched a bit when I came across my own words: “When it comes to a lot of Main Street retailers, we’ve been telling our clients they’re not going to get April rent anyways.”
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