Retail Sector Lags Consumer Holiday Blowout

CHICAGO-Even as shoppers spent a record $52 billion in the United States during Black Friday in November, commercial real estate experts predict slow growth for the retail segment for 2012. In its North America Year-End Retail Outlook released Monday, Jones Lang LaSalle said uncertainty in US and global economic indicators have tempered early 2011 projections enough to allow caution to rule for the next year. (It should be noted that at ICSC’s New York City conference, currently in progress, the mood was decidedly more optimistic than cautious.)

At the May ICSC RECon event, spirits had been high, as economic indicators such as housing and employment surged higher than in the past two down years, Greg Maloney, president and CEO of JLL Retail tells GlobeSt.com Monday. “Then, all these other things started to happen, and all of a sudden it was ‘here we go again,’” he says. “It just doesn’t take a lot right now, everybody’s leery. If there’s too much uncertainty, retailers are not going to plan growth or hire. People who aren’t sure of their jobs are not going to go out and spend or use credit. That’s the reason for the caution.”