Retail Review

Today we have a roundtable with some great thoughtleaders in retail. Travelling the last few days with Chris Lee former SR VP with Forever 21 its apparent the trade down in retail is going to be a prevalent issue this Christmas. Chris likes TJ Maxx and other brand players that compete at the lower end like Forever 21 . But its not just loyalty he cites the fact that some stores he thinks are looking at reallocating space as the consumer shows any move up in buying and also looks for foreign players to come in and take advantage of the dollar and cheap real estate to acquire properties , possibly in bulk and in partnership with big retailers rather than the REITS. Look at Sears, Walmart, or even a Macy's to take space and create some kind of store within a store concept.