at the mall. “It was a very memorable and successful holiday season and the ‘Christmas Collage’ retailers were thrilled to be there and many of them stayed on as tenants after the holiday season,” Campbell says.


MICHAEL BLANCHARD PHOTOGRAPHY


also go through local town zoning and each center’s program required town approvals from various boards. Campbell says that a lot of attention is paid to foot traffic


before assigning carts to a center. “It’s all about location, location, location. The Summer Marketplace carts must be located on high-traffic pedestrian walkways in order for the cart retailers to be successful,” Campbell says. Promotions are carried out through various marketing efforts including signage, literature distribution, audio messaging through the music system, website promotions and email blasts.


Start in specialty leasing Campbell got his start in the industry at The Rouse Company in 1982—he served as marketing director at three malls with Rouse. It was during this third stop—at The Gallery at Market East in Center City in Philadelphia that he saw the need for a cart program and implemented one. Campbell remembers borrowing carts from surrounding Rouse malls to get the program going during holiday season in 1985. His most memorable experience in specialty leasing involved


yet another holiday season in 1986. He was working as the senior events and merchandise manager for New England Development at The Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, NH. The mall had 25 pushcarts on the floor and the program was consistently fully occupied. “We had the luxury of a sizeable waiting list of retailers who wanted to be a part of our program,” Campbell remembers. To get some of these retailers into the mall, Campbell converted an inline vacant store into what he called “The Christmas Collage.” Stalls were created inside the store making way for five new retailers to set up shop


Different centers, different needs Campbell points out that lifestyle centers “demand a local, unique and one- of-a-kind mix of retailers versus only hosting national operators.” This retailer mix adds to the exclusive nature of the centers. Campbell adds that WS Development has had “great success attracting local owner-operators who


bring a passion and love for their products and their business. Many products are handmade or strategically purchased to create a unique offering to the lifestyle center customer,” Campbell says. Examples of such retailers include Denise Bruce with


Camilley’s Closet and Ellen Kennedy with Hingham Bath & Body Shoppe—both of whom are located at Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham, MA. Camilley’s Closet combines designer handbags, scarves,


jewelry and accessories with highly personal customer service and affordable prices. Bruce says her kiosk business brings “a touch of Soho to the South Shore,” (the southeastern suburbs of Boston). For its part Hingham Bath and Body Shoppe offers premium


personal care products including goat milk honey lotion. Over 50 fragrances are available through the kiosk’s “fragrance bar.” Both stores have strong local roots and anticipate their customers’ wants and needs well. Campbell warns against overdoing it in one product category


—a diversity of product genres is important. Another message he has for fellow leasing managers: keep it fresh and keep it local as best you can. “Finding unique vendors with unique merchandise offerings


requires a lot of canvassing but the field work will pay dividends,” Campbell says. “You’ll find passionate retailers who love what they do and are willing to share that passion with their customers.”


Poornima Apte is the editor-in-chief for Specialty Retail Report. She can be reached at papte@specialtyretail.com.


Keep an eye open for more coverage about outdoor lifestyle centers in an upcoming issue of Specialty Retail Report. 128 Specialty Retail Report n Winter 2011 SpecialtyRetail.com


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