The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly proved a huge setback for the retail industry, but you can’t yet conclude that retail is dead. Some retailers succumbed to the challenges, but others like pharmacies and groceries benefitted from changing buyer behaviors, and there are still others considered to be ‘non-essentials’ that didn’t just survive the crisis but also boomed during the difficult times. This guide will list down retailers that thrived during the pandemic.
Grocery Stores
Restaurants may have been closed during the ‘stay-at-home orders, but people haven’t stopped visiting grocery stores to stock supplies, including eatables. Small and large grocery stores have experienced a dramatic increase in demand. The highest selling items include hand sanitizers, frozen food, and toilet paper. Since small groceries supported larger ones in restocking highly demanded products, every player seemed to be better off.
Gaming Stores
More than ever, people are determined to bring entertainment to their homes. Millennials and others may not be able to plan weekend visits to restaurants and theaters, but they’ve done their best to keep themselves busy indoors. The gaming industry has seen tremendous benefits from this trend. Adults are also turned to gaming stores to acquire educational video games for their children who missed school for months.
Fitness Equipment Stores
While working from home, a large number of people who didn’t really care have suddenly become health conscious. And others who’ve stayed consistent with their workout activities couldn’t go out to parks, sidewalks, and gyms. It’s no wonder that people designated a place in their homes for their fitness regimens. Fitness equipment stores thus saw a sharp increase in demand, especially for yoga mats.
Used Car Market
With COVID-related horror stories making the headlines like Uber drivers transmitting pandemic to passengers, more and more people who previously used public transport want to travel by their own car. Due to economic uncertainty, new cars are low in inventory and are subject to high-interest rates. As an obvious result, people are turning to the used car market, which flourished remarkably through the pandemic.
Online Food Delivery
Because of consumer unease about eating out and dine-in capacity restrictions, restaurants have been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Food delivery platforms that had been struggling to occupy a market share due to the staunch consumer preferences for eating out have miraculously picked up sales. Online food retailers such as UberEats, GrubHub, and DoorDash have seen rapid expansion in both their restaurant listings and user bases.
Commercial Retail Trends In New York, New Jersey, and Florida
In the face of nationwide lockdowns with COVID-19 spreading all over the world, many of us felt that it’s the end of retail, especially for the brick and mortar model. Shopping centers, retail centers, strip malls, etc., were all shut down giving an impression that in-person shopping won’t be a reality anymore.
Subsequent events and business growth, however, proved that wrong. Many retailers, with or without a brick-and-mortar facility, experienced unprecedented growth during the pandemic.
If these retailers that boomed during the pandemic gave you more confidence, go ahead and plan for your commercial retail space. Contact Milbrook Properties Ltd. for some of the best commercial space options in Florida, New York, or New Jersey.