Unemployment, Craigslist & Retail Leasing

By Erin Mercer, Investments

There is an interesting intersection between today’s difficult leasing environment and the unprecedented layoffs occurring across America. For many Americans, opening up their own retail establishments has been a lifelong dream and getting laid off may be the impetus needed to pursue that dream. As a center owner, these prospective retail proprietors can become very attractive tenants. Although helping them refine their concept and finding creative leasing structures is critical, the first step is simply finding them.

Most upstart retailers have little understanding of the leasing process or even where to go with their idea. Reaching out in non-traditional venues is the only way to find them.

Recently, Madison Marquette was aggressively leasing two vacant storefronts at Beachcliff Market Square, a 100,000 square foot community center in downtown Rocky River, Ohio. To complement traditional outreach efforts, the team decided to post on Craigslist in the “Artist” and “Office/Commercial Real Estate” sections of the site. Responses came in quickly and subsequent email exchanges and business plan reviews helped separate out the most promising prospective tenants. In the end, Studio 22 and The Art Gallery signed leases to open in the two spaces just 6 weeks after the initial posting.

In these difficult times, start-up tenants can help keep centers afloat until the economy rebounds. Moreover, a good number of these tenants will be successful and may even go on to become the next national powerhouse retail brand.