Stiffening competition, surging online advertising costs and cheap mall space have prompted web retailers like Warby Parker and Bonobos to open physical stores, including locations in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group and other mall landlords actually might be looking forward to redeveloping Sears’ massive stores with more promising tenants as the once-mighty retailer enters bankruptcy.
Merrillville-based CSC Generation Holdings Inc., which acquired Bon-Ton’s intellectual property in bankruptcy court, said Indiana was not part of its initial plan to reopen stores.
The company said it was in “advanced discussions with landlords” about reopening stores in Indiana and several other states. Bon-Ton closed 15 stores in Indiana this year, including the Carson’s in Circle Centre mall.
City development officials said the plan should “respond to emerging challenges confronting the Castleton area, including evolving national shifts in commercial retailing and aging commercial, office and multifamily areas.”
The restaurant at Hamilton Town Center was supposed to reopen after a “refreshing,” but mall management confirmed the restaurant has permanently closed.
Mall landlords, besieged for the past two years by the rise of online shopping and retailer bankrupties, are trying to push a new narrative of improving sales and increased demand for empty space at their properties.
In Indiana, Brookstone has stores in Circle Centre mall and at Indianapolis International Airport.
Huse tells IBJ that Circle Centre needs “transformational” change and describes the company’s plans for two restaurants in Fishers.
Only about $3 billion of retail real estate changed hands in April, a 27 percent drop from a year earlier and the lowest monthly tally since February 2013.
The owner of Gifts and Convenience, a shop in the downtown Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel, is the new franchisee for the mall cookie and desert shop, which closed early this year after a lawsuit from the landlord.
The two-story location is one of 63 Sears that parent Sears Holdings announced Thursday were “non-profitable” and would be closing.
The commercial openings are part of the $1 billion Anson development, led by Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp.
Kite Realty Group Trust now sports a whopping 8.5 percent annual dividend yield—by far the highest of any publicly traded firm in Indiana—a reflection of the cold shoulder investors are giving retail real estate companies as internet sales soar higher.
Leaders of a collegiate contest for real estate development elected the struggling west-side shopping center as a case study. The winning entry suggesting wiping the slate clean.
David Simon, CEO of Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc., says a “significant number” of tenants are underreporting sales, costing the nation’s largest mall owner a lot of money.
The end is near for Bon-Ton Stores, the 160-year-old department store chain that operates more than 250 stores under various names, including Carson's, Younkers and Elder-Beerman.
Purdue Polytechnic plans to operate at the mall for the 2018-19 school year. Other new tenants include three restaurants, an Indiana-themed shop and an executive coaching consultant.
The national retailer, which is rolling out dozens of non-traditional stores across the country, declined to comment on whether downtown Indianapolis could be a future site.
The Indianapolis store is among three in Indiana, and 16 total, that Sears plans to sell and lease back to generate cash for pension obligations.
