"Florida is one of the ?happening' places for retailers and a great laboratory for the rest of the U.S.," says Erik Gordon, director, University of Florida Center for Retailing, Gainesville. "It's a populous state, and its demographics represent the future graying and Hispanic-ing of America." Florida stores also benefit handsomely from the state's many strong tourist destinations, where vacationers spend more than one-quarter of their time shopping, adds C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, based in Charleston, S.C.
Given Florida's robust economy and continued population growth, expansion is on the minds of virtually every retailer in the state, from large discounters and retail superstores to grocery store chains, department stores and specialty shops. South Florida's retail sector is getting a boost from several new shopping center projects, upscale restaurants and trendy fashion boutiques, according to Herbert leeds, a Miami-based retail consultant.
Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom, whose customers are among the most loyal department store shoppers, has announced it will be putting its first Florida store in the space vacated by Mervyn's at the Town Center at Boca Raton.
Beginning this year, centralFlorida and the Gulf Coast will be seeing more swanky department stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, which in November opens its 10th Florida store in Tampa's upgraded Westshore Plaza. In Orlando, a shopping center under construction in Disney's Celebration will attract retailers like Burdines and Dillard's. Increased retail development is taking place in the broad metro Pensacola area.
State population projections suggest the "self-indulgent" teenage market will be one of the hottest growth areas over the next 15 years, stepping up demand for modestly priced cosmetics, fragrances and other personal care products, Leeds says. That's good news for malls, the ICSC reports, where teens average more visits (54 per year) than any other age group. The malls could use some good news: With traffic and sales in a tailspin, malls will be creating "entertainment zones" over the next several years in an attempt to lure back customers. In Miami, International Malljust added a 30-screen movie theater and the Dolphin Mall, scheduled to open around the year 2000, will include a large, family-oriented theme park.
Dire predictions notwithstanding, interactive home shopping isn't, and probably never will be, the store-killing "monster" that retailers feared, Gordon says. It promises to open up opportunities for entrepreneurial types to sell certain categories of generic merchandise, such as books and brand-name electronic products. "Consumers have to trust the product and the Internet story," giving respected retailers like Circuit City and J.C. Penney a "leg up" on their cyber-competitors, he notes. And while the Internet may be a useful place for car dealers to post their in-stock offerings, people aren't going to stop going to local car lots to test drive a new vehicle, he adds.
After 18 months at the Dream Shop, an electronic mall, Burdines still isn't selling much online, says Carey Watson, senior vice president of marketing.
Specialties
Department stores, "left by the roadside for dead" a few years ago, have recaptured much of the market share they lost to specialty retailers, says Gordon. "They've turned themselves into a collection of little specialty boutiques" and remodeled their formerly "blah" interiors. Some specialty stores like The Limited are in "realtrouble, but for the most part, specialty stores and department stores tend to "authenticate each other," says leeds.
While sales growth among traditional department stores has been hovering around 2% to 4.5%, national chains and off-price department and discount stores such as Sears, T.J. Maxx and Target have come through with impressive gains in the low double digits, reflecting both their more fashionable clothing stock and a shift in consumer spending from "upscale to thrifty," according to Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report in Scotch Plains, N.J. Bradenton-based Beall's, which has opened a bunch of outlet stores, is doing "superbly," notes Gordon.
Price has become a more important ingredient in the battle for market share, according to Burdines' Watson. But now more than ever, the focus is on "product and assortment," offering customers "one-stop shopping" for all their appareland accessory needs. Store sales for 1997 were expected to easily top the prior year's $1.3 billion as Burdines moved into a holiday sales season that was expected to be up 4% to 5% statewide. The largest of Florida's department stores, Burdines currently employs about 9,000 people at 48 locations and has several openings and expansions on tap for its 100th birthday this year. Among these are a 225,000-square-foot store at the Aventura Mall in Miami and a 200,000-square-foot store at the Florida Mall in Orlando.
The big question, according to Beemer, is whether Burdines will be able to "resist the urge to change their merchandising" formula in markets like Orlando where they'll be competing head to head with other, more upscale retailers. Broadening their apparel lines "might impress Saks customers, but alienate former customers" who prefer more casual attire, Beemer says. Qualified help is also getting harder to come by as department store expansion slows and more people seek careers in other retail sectors, including office superstores.