We have embraced the reality that there is no singular solution or approach we can successfully deploy to rebuild our retail leasing, real estate advisory, and marketing practices.
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Here in Boston and throughout much of the country, we have an oversupply of retail space. We therefore need to completely readjust our thinking about ground floor leasing and programming.
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Every call or video chat we have these days, regardless of agenda, starts with a question directed at us that is something similar to: “So, before we jump in, what are you all seeing out there?” While the conversations that follow are never identical, our response these days typically convey the following…
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I invite you to provide feedback to us on what more we can do to reinvent Graffito as a more actively anti-racist organization, where we are missing the mark, if you want to join us in any of this, how we can share best practices, and how we can hold each other accountable in our respective pursuits to make better, more inclusive, more diverse, more equitable, and more valuable urban places.
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At Graffito, we will not be bystanders anymore. We will reinvent ourselves as related to anti-racism, equity, and inclusion. And of all the “pivots” I’ve been writing about in these updates the past few months, this will be the most important one for us.
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Last week’s update, I Hope I’m Wrong, was a bit dark for some of you (yes, I’m OK — and yes, I am still, generally, a proud optimist), so this week I’m turning the corner with something a bit more upbeat and hopeful.
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And here at Graffito we’ve all embraced a strategy of not bull-shitting each other or our clients. And I guess being a realist right now just feels and looks a lot like being a pessimist.
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Today, unlike in March, it is safe to say with certainty that COVID-19 has touched all businesses selling anything to the public, whether online in or in-person. Every single retailer in the past two months we have spoke to — and we are talking to a lot of retailers — is thinking about changing their business model in some way. The scale of the collective rethink in retail is just nuts.
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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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