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Column: Rumors of an Apple store buzzing in Sarasota

My “What’s in Store” retail column from Aug 23, 2013, about the possible addition of an Apple Store.

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Life would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to drive an hour to the Brandon Town Center mall or Tampa’s International Plaza to see the latest Apple gadgets or have my Macbook Pro serviced.

 

Unfortunately, Tampa’s malls are the closest I’ll get to an Apple Store as a Sarasota resident — unless I decide to drop by Apple seller Computer Advantage’s store on U.S. 41, near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

But that soon may very well change.

With a new 880,000-square-foot mall in the works here, Apple may have a renewed interest in opening a store in the Southwest Florida market. Although Apple Inc. employees would not confirm if the electronics company is looking into the Sarasota-Bradenton market, local retail sources are buzzing about Apple and the possibility of a new store here in one of our regional malls.

This isn’t the first time Apple, which is known for being very selective when it comes to opening retail operations, has shown an interest in Southwest Florida. In 2011, Westfield Group’s Southgate Mall was reportedly courting Apple and developing plans to open a store there that same year.

At the time, Apple would have been the latest in a slew of high-profile, national chains that committed to expanding into Sarasota. The others, like Costco Wholesale Corp., which opened last summer in Westfield’s Sarasota Square Mall, and Trader Joe’s, a California-based specialty grocer that opened its second store in Florida on Tamiami Trail in Sarasota in the summer of 2012, were among the first to commit to the region.

Read more here.

 

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Column: Millennial shoppers hard to please, impossible to ignore

My “What’s in Store” column from Aug. 5, 2013.

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Historically, at least, Generation Y has been an age group retailers have struggled to reach.

But since they are armed with the digital prowess and market savvy of most plugged-in millennials, retail chains have been forced to find a way to reach the 21st century’s first true digital generation. Old-school print catalogs and mail-in coupons just won’t do it anymore. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying.

Macy’s announced this month that it will expand its line of Gen Y brands in spring, the second consecutive year the department store chain has added to offerings aimed at the teen-to-twenties age group to reach its next generation of shoppers. Among those new brands are Maison Jules and QMack, which will be available in 150 stores across the country this month.

The retailer also has honed its “Mstylelab” and “Impulse” departments as of late, which focuses on shoppers aged 13 to 22 and 19 to 30 age groups.

Like many retailers, Macy’s doesn’t want to ignore millennials, because their math is pretty compelling: There are roughly 80 million in the U.S. (including me), and collectively, we spend about $600 billion a year, according to St. Petersburg consulting firm Accenture. If projections hold, that spending will grow to $1.4 trillion annually by 2020.

But the problem for Macy’s and others is we don’t fit a mold.

Not all of us shop online. Accenture’s survey notes we still like to shop in malls and actually like to see and feel the products we buy. But nearly half engage in “showrooming,” where they go to a store to check out an item, then search online for a better price. (Most millennials expect prices in stores and online to be similar, or identical).

From the retailers’ perspective, too, there are concerns that Gen. Y shoppers lack brand loyalty. In a survey, nearly 40 percent of retail industry leaders said it’s their biggest concern about the demographic.

Read more here.