Thriving ‘Self-Care’ Sector Fuels Demand for Strip Center Space – National Real Estate Investor

Millennials are driving fitness, beauty and wellness concepts, many of which operate on membership models and drive regular shopper traffic.

Neighborhood strip centers are getting a big boost from the booming “self-care” sector, which focuses on wellness, health, fitness and beauty.

Globally, the self-care sector is a whopping $4.7 trillion business, reports the Global Wellness Institute.  The term “self-care” is about people investing more in their health, says Sara Martin, vice president of retail brokerage at Welsh Cos./Colliers International | Minneapolis-St. Paul. That could be physically, mentally, spiritually or socially.

“Self-care has recently emerged in popular culture… and the idea has caught on like wildfire in social media and in the self-help categories,” according to a new report from Colliers International | Minneapolis-St. Paul.

And this trend is cutting across many sectors, including retail real estate. For example, there’s been an uptick in new leases signed by beauty, health and fitness retailers, many of which are going into neighborhood shopping centers. They’re filling small and mid-size vacancies in both suburban and urban markets.

Membership-based concepts are taking off

The Colliers report states that because the self-care trend allows individuals to create a “personalized menu” of what “care” means to them, new concepts continue to emerged, while many existing ones are expanding.

For example, someone’s self-care routine might include spin class twice a week, a yoga or barre class on the weekend, a massage and lash extensions once a month, plus a bi-weekly manicure.

Many of these fitness concepts and service providers offer monthly membership packages with access or services at a reduced rate. While consumers save money on the packages, these businesses—many of which are franchises—essentially know that they can count on this monthly revenue.

“When these retailers are business planning, and they’re going to focus around a membership model, it gives them a very specific number that they have to hit,” Martin says. “If you own a massage therapy [business] and aren’t going to do a membership model, you have no idea if the lady who just walked out your door is ever going to come back. But if she has a membership, you do.”

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Article by: Liz Wolf | Feb. 07, 2109

National Real Estate Investor