Fresh off the energy of ICSC New York, Chris Ressa and Carly Iacono unpack what really matters in retail real estate right now and where the market is headed into 2026. In this episode of What’s in Store, they move past surface-level headlines and dig into the conversations happening behind closed doors with investors, landlords, and retailers alike. pasted

One clear theme emerged: certainty has returned, but the conversation has shifted. Cap rates are no longer viewed solely through the lens of interest rates. Instead, investors are pricing risk based on tenant quality, sector fundamentals, and long-term demand. At the same time, retailers are facing a supply crunch, with limited availability in top shopping centers constraining expansion, even as new stores continue to outperform expectations.

Chris and Carly also explore the rising demand for value net lease deals, the growing challenge of maintaining long weighted average lease terms, and why long-term credit tenants have become harder to find. Perhaps most encouraging, retailers are reinvesting heavily in their physical stores, signaling renewed confidence in brick-and-mortar retail.

Taken together, these insights paint a clear picture: retail is not just resilient. It is evolving with discipline, data, and conviction.

What You’ll Hear

1. Why cap rates are being driven more by risk than rates
2. How supply constraints are reshaping retailer expansion plans
3. Why value net lease assets are suddenly in high demand
4. What strong new-store performance signals about consumer behavior
5. How retailers are prioritizing physical stores again
6. What the absence of AI chatter says about the current cycle
7. Why these trends matter heading into 2026

Chapters

00:07 – Setting the Stage at ICSC New York

Chris and Carly explain why ICSC remains the most important deal-making forum in retail real estate.

02:30 – Why Cap Rates Are No Longer Just About Interest Rates

The discussion shifts to how investors are pricing risk by sector and tenant quality.

10:25 – Liquidity Returns and What It Means for Deal Volume

Improving credit markets are quietly unlocking stalled transactions.

12:07 – The Real Supply Constraint Retailers Are Facing

Retailers want to grow, but many cannot find space in their top target centers.

15:51 – Value Net Lease Becomes a Hot Asset Class

Short-term and below-market leases attract intense buyer demand.

25:28 – New Stores Are Outperforming Expectations

Retailers report new locations beating pro forma sales projections.

31:39 – The Challenge of Long-Term Credit and Lease Duration

Maintaining portfolio WALT is getting harder as long-term deals become scarce.

34:23 – Retailers Reinvest in the In-Store Experience

Capital is flowing back into physical stores through remodels and upgrades.

37:05 – The Surprising Silence Around AI and Labor

Two dominant topics from past conferences barely register this year.

38:34 – Why These Trends Point Toward 2026

Chris and Carly explain why these themes are just the...

Flashing back to December 2023, this Retail Retold replay proves just how relevant the details still are. In this episode, host Chris Ressa breaks down one of the most underestimated risks in retail real estate leasing: possession contingencies. A lease can be fully executed, a delivery date locked in, and everyone feeling good, until the existing tenant does not leave. Without a possession contingency in place, landlords can find themselves caught between two tenants, facing delays, legal exposure, and a deal that suddenly starts to unravel. It is a reminder that possession is not a technicality; it is everything.

Chris also zooms out to talk about something just as critical to long-term success: skill-building. Every year, he commits to sharpening a new skill, often outside of traditional business training. These disciplines, ones that demand focus, patience, and attention to detail, end up strengthening how deals get done, decisions get made, and pressure gets handled.

This quick-hitter episode is a flashback with staying power. The lesson is simple: protect your deals with the right clauses, and protect your edge by continuously leveling up. Because in retail real estate, the smallest details often decide the biggest outcomes.

What You’ll Hear in This Replay

• Why a fully executed lease does not always guarantee possession — and how that gap can derail a deal
• A real-world breakdown of possession contingencies and when they actually matter
• The risk landlords face when existing tenants do not vacate on time
• How one overlooked clause can impact delivery dates, legal exposure, and tenant relationships
• Why continuously building new skills outside of your core job can make you a better dealmaker

Chapters

00:00 – Flashing Back to December 2023

Chris reflects on the timing of the episode and why these lessons still matter today.

02:15 – The Habit of Building New Skills

Why intentional skill development — inside and outside of business — sharpens long-term performance.

04:20 – Learning Precision Outside the Office

How mastering a detail-oriented hobby improves focus and decision-making in high-pressure work.

09:55 – What Is a Possession Contingency?

A clear, practical explanation of the clause many deals overlook.

12:10 – When a Tenant Does Not Leave

The real risk of expired leases, holdovers, and delayed possession.

14:30 – Protecting Delivery Dates and Deals

How possession contingencies create clarity and protect all parties.

15:30 – Final Takeaways

Why better documents and better operators go hand in hand.

In this episode of Retail Retold, host Chris Ressa gets inside the mind of Lÿden Foust, the CEO and founder of Spatial.ai—the company turning real human behavior into a map retailers can actually use. If you think location strategy is still built on income bands and census data, this conversation flips that idea on its head.

Foust explains how Persona Live Segmentation blends social signals, credit card trends, demographic nuance, and movement patterns to reveal who your customer really is—and where they live in the physical world. It’s the engine behind brands like Patagonia and Lululemon choosing sites, growing market share, and targeting high-value segments others miss.

Ressa and Foust dig into the elephant in the room: AI isn’t spatial (yet). The technology can write decks and draw buildings, but it can’t feel the difference between half a mile and a trade area boundary. The fundamentals still matter—and boots on the ground beat bots on the map.

The two break down how value just overtook quality in consumer preference, why Dutch Bros is winning by going after unexpected segments, and how landlords can use psychographics to land better tenants and build smarter merchandising mixes.

What You’ll Hear:

• Why psychographic segmentation, not demographics, drives retail market share
• How Patagonia, Lululemon, and others use Persona Live Segmentation to find their best customers
• The four data sources behind Spatial.ai’s models: social, purchasing, demographics, movement
• Why AI is not yet spatially aware enough to replace human site selection
• What mobile data gets wrong and right about trade areas
• How Dutch Bros disrupted the “crowded” coffee category by targeting unexpected segments
• Why value is now outperforming quality in consumer decision-making
• How property owners can use psychographics to land the right anchor tenant
• Where demographic trends are shifting: birth rates, immigration, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha
• The surprising role of franchising as a growth engine for retail real estate

Chapters

00:00 — Who Is Lÿden Foust

Chris introduces Lÿden and the origin story of Spatial.ai’s Persona Live Segmentation platform.

01:13 — Why Psychographics Matter

Lÿden explains why real behavior beats demographics when retailers choose locations.

02:15 — The Data Behind Persona Segmentation

Spatial.ai blends social signals, spending patterns, demographics, and movement to map customer segments.

06:38 — Retailers Using It Today

Patagonia, Lululemon, and others use psychographics to find top customer groups and guide site selection.

10:58 — AI’s Limits in Real Estate

Chris and Lÿden debate why AI isn’t spatial yet—and why human context still wins for site selection.

12:41 — Mobile Data: Good and Bad

They break down what mobile visitation data reveals, and where it misrepresents certain customer groups.

14:27 — Building Trade Areas Smarter

Lÿden explains how mobile data reshaped trade area analysis and unlocked competitive insight.

18:40 — Value Now Beats Quality

They explore why “value” just surpassed “quality” in consumer preference and what retailers should do about...