I was actually just paraphrasing the article when it came to falling demand (though I share the same view):
> At a time when shoppers are buying online and fashion brands across the industry are hurting, “the challenging business environment makes it less interesting to do vanity locations,”
I think it would be folly to think that there's a static or growing level of demand in physical retail relative to online shopping - even at the high end.
I don't reasonably doubt that someone will be able to turn a profit with the increased rents, or that landlords don't want to drop the rent for a multitude of reasons (financing requirements included) but my point is that we're in a period where the sectors which typically could afford the high rents in places like these now can't.
And my statement holds just as much for NYC as it does for other cities in the world - I was simply providing the Australian example as support. Remember when Virgin could afford renting half of Union Square to sell physical music? After it was empty for a while (much like Bleecker St) the DR and banks stepped in with a business which could afford the rent.
> At a time when shoppers are buying online and fashion brands across the industry are hurting, “the challenging business environment makes it less interesting to do vanity locations,”
I think it would be folly to think that there's a static or growing level of demand in physical retail relative to online shopping - even at the high end.
I don't reasonably doubt that someone will be able to turn a profit with the increased rents, or that landlords don't want to drop the rent for a multitude of reasons (financing requirements included) but my point is that we're in a period where the sectors which typically could afford the high rents in places like these now can't.
And my statement holds just as much for NYC as it does for other cities in the world - I was simply providing the Australian example as support. Remember when Virgin could afford renting half of Union Square to sell physical music? After it was empty for a while (much like Bleecker St) the DR and banks stepped in with a business which could afford the rent.