Retail has never been more active. At least by one measure.
Many national retailers are still expanding despite recession fears heading into 2023. And many of them are trying out new, unorthodox concepts.
This comes as monthly retail sales (excluding auto, gasoline, and online retailers, a measure that best encapsulates brick-and-mortar retail sales), pushed to a new record high of $384 billion last September, according to CoStar, the publisher of LoopNet. That’s more than 30% higher than pre-pandemic levels in September 2019, even after accounting for inflation.