Make it easy for consumers to find what they are looking for. In a recent blog Is Veganism Going Mainstream, I discussed how Marshalls was making it easier for vegan shoppers to identify purses that coincide with the shopper’s values. In addition to Marshalls highlighting vegan purses, Whole Foods also makes it easy for consumers following specific dietary guidelines, such as Paleo, Whole 30, Gluten Free etc., to find products that meet their requirements without them having to read every label.
Make it experiential. Whether you own or operate an individual store, a chain of them or a shopping center, the consumer has to experience something beyond the shopping itself. Retailtainment was first used back in 1999 by sociologist and author George Ritzer
Make it interactive. Books and Books, the independently owned local bookstore is amazing at interacting with their customers. In addition to having knowledgeable staff, they have a cafe with great food, spaces for getting together and socializing and they offer book signings and readings by authors. Patrons come early have dinner or a cocktail, socialize, buy the book, and interact with the author. You can’t get that from online shopping and, in spite of technology (or maybe because of it) people want to have places where the can interact.
Make it Instagram and Pinterest worthy: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and the rest of social media has made it essential that whether it is food, clothing, real estate, spaces and places, whatever it is you are selling has to be Instagram and Pinterest worthy. Two places in Miami do that extremely well. Miami Design District and Wynwood. Don’t believe me? Go into Instagram and #miamidesigndistrict to view 158,000 posts or #wynwood to view over 2.4 million posts.
Make it about community. Several of the places already discussed such as Books and Books, the Miami Design District, and Wynwood are great examples. FootWorks in South Miami has running clubs and helps train you for half and full marathons, Dharma Studio in Coconut Grove offers free yoga classes three times a week in the Grove, and Aventura Mall has all sorts of events scheduled throughout the year. If you are in an area that has one, check with your local Business Improvement District and see how you can get involved to bring more traffic to your store.
Do you commute to the city but live in the suburbs? Light traffic day in Miami
Remember the movie Something’s Gotta Give starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves? Well this is nothing about that movie other than I thought of the title today while out on my morning run. It does have to do with Labor Day, however.
Although I normally run shorter routes during weekdays, I decided I would go on one of my longer routes along Old Cutler Road. What a mistake that was! In addition to being extremely dark at 5:45 a.m., the traffic was horrific! I couldn’t cross the street anywhere there wasn’t a traffic light, which I am sure made all of the commuters extremely unhappy. For the longer part of my run, I thought about where those commuters lived versus where they worked, what they were sacrificing, if anything, having to get up so early to get to work, do they have another choice other than sitting in traffic at the crack of dawn? So what do all of these questions have to do with real estate? A lot, I think.
Quality of Life was the first thing that came to mind during my musings. What quality of life do the commuters have? I know several people with long commutes, including my husband. We live in Pinecrest but he commutes to Port Everglades. We have considered moving, but love our neighborhood and he says he would rather commute and love where he lives than have a shorter commute and not like where he lives, but the truth is traffic is getting worse, his commute times are getting longer, and he has already been doing this commute a long time. Something’s Gotta Give.
Large lots, great schools, and plenty of parks are just a few of the perks of living in Pinecrest
Popularity of Live, Work, Play Communities – Places like Aventura, Downtown Miami/Brickell, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, Downtown Dadeland, have all been growing because people want to be able to minimize their time in traffic. Savvy developers, urban planners, and city officials, have been building condos and mixed use developments to meet the wants of a commuter weary public. The negative side of this development and the demand, is that prices in most of these areas have gone up so rapidly, that they are no longer affordable and residents of Miami-Dade County pay more than (**(% in housing. Teachers, firefighters, police and many service providers were probably sitting in that traffic. One of my friends is a teacher. She lives in Palmetto Bay, but commutes to her job at Beach High? Would she take a teaching job closer to home if she could get one? Does MDCPS consider an employees commute time/contribution to traffic, when they assign that employee to a school? A vibrant community needs to include affordable housing options or offer wages to compensate. Something’s Gotta Give.
Other topics that I thought about include the importance of having transportation and work options close to home as well as affordability, taxes, and mixed use neighborhoods, not just buildings. But those are all topics for other blogs.
Do you have a horrible commune? Do you have public transportation options? If you did, would you use them? Would you live closer to your job if it was affordable? Would you like to work closer to where you live if you could find a job? If you feel like sharing your answers, please do. If not, at least give the questions some thought and think about what your quality of life is versus what it could be if you didn’t have to spend so much time commuting.
Coconut Grove has been experiencing yet another revitalization. It has been through at least three cycles of boom to gloom since I moved here in the early 1990’s but, thanks to the commercial property owners, who formed the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District and agreed to tax themselves, this boom feels different. Why? Because the Coconut Grove BID has worked hard to create a community by taking on projects and neighborhood improvements that the City of Miami was not able or was unwilling to. From fixing sidewalks, trimming trees, and sponsoring three free community yoga classes a week through Dharma Studio, the BID has made the Grove a hangout for locals and tourists alike.
Popular Spill Over Restaurant
Since the BID formed in 2009, new restaurants such as Lokal and Spill Over, both by Matthew Kushner, Glass and Vine by Giorgio Rapicavoli, Strada, and Atchana’s to mention a few have moved in and prospered. SapientRazorfish, one of the largest interactive advertising companies in the world, moved into the Shops at Mayfair and Cocowalk is getting a much needed redesign and tenant mix. Any evening or weekend you can stroll through the shops, parks and restaurants and see the vibrant diversity of this popular neighborhood. If you like what you see, thank the commercial property owners and their BID!
A couple of days ago a wrote about what South Florida will look like in 2070 if we continue developing the way we are. The state of Florida is growing by 1,000 people per day, making traffic unbearable and threatening our quality of life. Luckily, there are many projects going on in South Florida that will improve our community and increase property values around them. Three of them include:
Someone forgot to tell us that it is winter! To all my friends, relatives, and customers who have been dealing with cold or downright miserable weather since October, come on down for a visit and thaw out.
Whether you are visiting Miami to escape cold weather or are a year-round resident enjoying the cool weather and lack of humidity, this Saturday night is a perfect night to head over to the Barnacle moonlight concert. This historic home has an expansive lawn that slopes gently down Biscayne Bay and is an ideal setting for an intimate night of outdoor music.
Okay. In case you are all “arted” out by Saturday, take a break and visit some historic homes and landmarks in Coconut Grove. The annual Villagers Tour takes place in the Grove from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. December 7. You need to purchase tickets in advance, so you know where to go to start the tour. If you are interested in tickets, $35, contact me at 305-776-2792.
Okay. In case you are all “arted” out by Saturday, take a break and visit some historic homes and landmarks in Coconut Grove. The annual Villagers Tour takes place in the Grove from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. December 7. You need to purchase tickets in advance, so you know where to go to start the tour. If you are interested in tickets, $35, contact me at 305-776-2792.
I just received yet another e-mail on a new construction project; this one is coming to Coral Gables. It seems hard to believe that we went through a MAJOR real estate crash, with many of our prominent developers themselves involved in foreclosures of their projects, just a few years ago. It also seems hard to believe that there are so many new developments selling their projects, when foreclosure activity in Florida is leading the nation. Is this a contradiction in the real estate market, setting us up for another dip? Not necessarily.
New projects extend from the Gables all the way north to the Broward county line. They cover Coconut Grove, Brickell/Downtown, Midtown, South Beach, Mid Beach, North Miami Beach, and Aventura. Pricing starts from the low $200,000’s in the Gables to the several million for those projects in the Grove, Miami Beach and Aventura. Based on what I am seeing, buyers are definitely leaning toward newer, more modern buildings and inventory in newer buildings is extremely tight. Builders are using a formula more commonly used in South America, where there is no financing, and the buyer pays a significant amount of money down at various stages of the construction process. The range in starting prices, demand for new buildings and the new purchasing requirements make for a bit more stability than the previous building boom.
What does all of this new construction mean if you are a buyer? It means that you will have more options in a given price range. You will be able to choose between existing units where you know exactly what you are getting and one that is under construction that you can finish to your specifications. Check to see how many new projects are going up in the area you are looking in and what the price ranges in the different development are. Too much supply of the same type of property could point to price decreases or stagnation.
If you are a seller of an older property in an area where new projects are going up, it means you will be competing with projects that are newer and offer more amenities than yours. Make sure you know your competition and highlight your property’s positive attributes. Many older units tend to be larger or offer more closet space than many of the newer construction projects.
