While brick-and-mortar retail was one of the industries hit the hardest during the Covid-19 pandemic, the owner of several shopping malls in the Phoenix area expressed optimism when looking ahead to the holiday shopping season and next year due to pent-up customer demand.
Macerich Co., which owns such malls as Scottsdale Fashion Square, Kierland Commons, Biltmore Fashion Park, Arrowhead Towne Center and Chandler Fashion Center, said it has started to see improvements in signing new tenants and has set high expectations for the holiday shopping season.
During a call with investors and stock analysts Thursday, Macerich CEO Tom O’Hern, said the company is past making the initial changes Covid required and now is looking at trying to get things back to normal.
“Our second quarter was more about getting centers opened and getting our tenants open safely and less about leasing,” O’Hern said. “The focus in the third quarter was collecting past due rents and started to shift back to leasing.”
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