Retail Real Estate: Clean Up in Aisle Six, or Heading to Chapter-7? - StepStone Group
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Retail Real Estate: Clean Up in Aisle Six, or Heading to Chapter-7? "First there was books, then With Amazon's recent acquisition of Whole Foods, and the near daily announcements of store closings, much music and video...Now Amazon. has been written about the death of retail. Perhaps too much. com is placing its bets on the After all, US consumers touch retail daily. The newsstand, fledgling grocery business." coffee shop, lunch spot, supermarket, drug store, dry cleaner, – The New York Times, 19 May 1999 fitness center, movie theater, take-out dinner place and frozen yogurt bar all occupy retail oriented real estate. Chances are that unless one falls within a narrow demographic and geographic segment, most of what is worn or eaten comes via brick and mortar locations. And given that people are likely to continue getting dressed and eating every day, demand for retail will persist. Will evolving consumer shopping patterns impact retail oriented real estate? Of course. Just as malls took retailers from Main Street in the 1970s and category-killer power centers took shoppers away from malls in the 1990s, the Internet has transformed the way the world shops. The issue that investors will address over the coming decade is the extent to which these changes in buyer behavior result in obsolescence or opportunity. February STEPSTONE2018 | Retail Real Estate: Clean Up in Aisle Six, or Heading to Chapter-7? 1
E-commerce Sales Growing Fourfold FIGURE 1 | E-COMMERCE AS % OF US RETAIL SALES Over Retail Sales (EXCLUDING AUTOMOBILE & GAS STATION SALES) In 2007, 5.2% of retail sales (excluding spending on autos and gas) occurred online. Today, that figure is 13.2% with 40% e-commerce spending growing at an annualized 12.8% over 35% 2027 33.7% the past decade compared to just 2.7% for overall retail sales. 30% Projecting these trends out over the next decade suggests that one-third of retail sales could occur online by 2027 (Figure 1). 25% The trend toward e-commerce is leading to a record number 20% of store closings projected for 2017; retailers such as HH Gregg, 15% 2017 Sports Authority, Gander Mountain, Radio Shack, Payless 13.2% Shoes, The Limited and Toys 'R' Us have all announced closings 10% 2007 and/or bankruptcy protection. This is on top of the weakness 5.2% 5% seen at general merchandise retailers where closures are Projected planned at Sears/Kmart (150 locations), J.C. Penney (138) and 0% Dec-99 Dec-02 Dec-05 Dec-08 Dec-11 Dec-14 Dec-17 Dec-20 Dec-23 Dec-26 Macy’s (68). The 8,640 stores projected to close in 2017 is up fourfold from the 2016 levels and a 40% increase over the global financial crisis (GFC) level of 6,163 in 2008 (Figure 2). Source: US Census Bureau June 2017, StepStone. At the same time that there are a record number of stores closing, there are interesting new entrants into the physical retail space; formerly online only operators such as Bonobos, FIGURE 2 | ANNUAL RETAIL STORE CLOSINGS Warby Parker, Fabletics, Athleta and Boston Proper have all begun to open brick and mortar outlets to create omni-channel 8640 distribution options for their consumers. Even e-commerce pioneer Amazon has begun to test unique store concepts for books and convenience food while finalizing designs for 6163 an ‘Apple-esque’ showroom for its line of tablets, e-readers 5077 and wireless speakers. The less encouraging aspect of the 4475 4442 entrants is that a Bonobos, Warby Parker, or Amazon store is 3917 substantially smaller than a J. Crew, LensCrafter, or Barnes & 3081 3084 2795 Noble store given that the new entrant is mostly a showroom 2645 2480 1975 2003 2140 2056 with almost no inventory. Mall owners are leasing to these 1704 1766 1343 new entrants to fill storefronts, but are in effect getting paid for one-third of the space, leaving a large portion of dead space behind newly erected dividing walls. Another 2017(f) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 change in the retail landscape is that off-price retailers such as Burlington, Dress Barn and TJX are all opening new stores as consumers have become thriftier since the GFC. Source: Credit Suisse. 2
Creative destruction has been at work for over a century in the retail space as new entrants, new formats and new FIGURE 3 | R EIT SECTOR RETURNS & WEIGHTS technologies have altered the landscape from Main Street to malls to power centers to omni-channel. To a large extent, the 30% pain felt by the retail sector is more of a story about corporate 25% strategy than a real estate story. 20% The concern over retail business strength is most evident in 15% the real estate investment trust (REIT) market where investors 10% can express their fear or favor daily. The listed real estate 5% market was introduced to investors in 1991 when the open-air 0% shopping center owner Kimco Realty became the first publicly (5%) traded REIT. Given that provenance, and the concentration of high value malls in the publicly traded REITs, retail is the (10%) largest sector within the NAREIT Equity REIT Index at 16.9%. (15%) Industrial Office Retail Residential Diversified Lodging/Resorts Health Care Self Storage Infrastructure Data Centers Specialty NAREIT Index Timber Through September 2017, retail REITs were down 10.8%, the only sector to post a negative return for the period (Figure 3). This compares to a 6.0% gain for the broader index Returns YTD Sector Weight and is considerably lower than the strong returns posted in Source: NAREIT as of September 2017. Data Centers (28.0%) and Industrial (18.5%). Grocery anchored REITs such as DDR (-40.3%) and Brixmor (-23.1%) were down even more than the retail sector given concern over e-commerce entrants. The US grocery market is extremely fragmented and regional. Whole Foods is one of only a few national chains, but even with 460 stores the chain represents only a 1.7% market share. FIGURE 4 | G ROCERY SECTOR MARKET SHARE Add to that level the 0.8% share that Amazon garners and you have the seventh or eighth largest purveyor of groceries 17.3% in the country (Figure 4). The market is split on whether the Whole Foods acquisition will mark the beginning of the end of grocery anchored retail, or a capitulation from Amazon that losing money on delivery was unsustainable and therefore a move into physical stores would lower operating expenses by 8.9% having consumers pick up goods from a centralized location. 5.6% 5.1% It is worth noting that the grocery business is a very low margin 3.4% 3.4% business dependent on high volume to turn a small profit. 2.5% 1.9% 1.7% 1.7% 1.7% 1.5% 1.5% The business model is being challenged by demographic 1.3% 1.2% 1.1% 1.0% 0.9% 0.8% 0.8% shifts. Millennials are delaying marriage and parenting. They BJ’s Wholesale Club Hy-Vee Food Stores Whole Foods HEB Grocery Trader Joe’s Sam’s Club Wegmans Delhanize ShopRite Walmart Amazon Kroger Costco Target Publix Meijer Ahold Aldi Southwestern Grocers Albertson’s/ Safeway also prioritize experiences over possessions; in the age of celebrity chefs and Instagram, dining experiences are high on their bucket list. Both young and old are migrating to urban apartments rather than suburban homes. All of this means that there has been a shift to dining out. Source: Statisdata 2016. STEPSTONE | Retail Real Estate: Clean Up in Aisle Six, or Heading to Chapter-7? 3
In 1992, households spent about US$162 at grocery stores for every US$100 spent at restaurants (Figure 5). Over time, FIGURE 5 | MONTHLY SPEND ON FOOD & BEVERAGE BY VENUE spending at restaurants gradually increased to the point that in 2015, retail sales at restaurants were actually higher $60,000 than retail sales at grocery stores. Operators of retail centers have identified this trend and have increased the food and $50,000 Monthly Sales (US$ millions) beverage component of their tenant mix in order to provide the $40,000 experiences that cannot be replicated online. $30,000 The Move to Omni-channel Is Bi-directional $20,000 At its core, a retail store is a distribution center in which the $10,000 items are selected by the consumer who then bears the burden of last mile delivery (i.e., they take their purchases home). $0 Amazon has already announced an arrangement with the Jan-92 Jan-93 Jan-94 Jan-95 Jan-96 Jan-97 Jan-98 Jan-99 Jan-00 Jan-01 Jan-02 Jan-03 Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 Jan-09 Jan-10 Jan-11 Jan-12 Jan-13 Jan-14 Jan-15 Jan-16 Jan-17 department store Kohls whereby customers wishing to return Grocery Restaurant goods received via delivery can return incorrect items to a local Source: US Census Bureau, October 2017. Kohls store. This reduces the overall delivery cost for Amazon, increases customer satisfaction and therefore purchase activity, and potentially leads to an up-sell opportunity in which Kohls might be able to entice Amazon customers to make a purchase during their visit. There are rumors currently that Amazon will deepen this relationship by acquiring Kohls, FIGURE 6 | BENEFITS OF OMNI-CHANNEL OPERATIONS which would signal a confirmation of the importance of omni-channel operations in the evolution of retail. Studies have indicated that the benefit to the retailer from 35% 75% in-store Return Rate 35% purchase during having an omni-channel operation can be significant given Return return visit Rate that as many as 35% of all online orders are returned, at significant expense to the retailer. By directing returns to = 65% = 90% a store location, the retailer is able to up-sell the customer Net Sale Net Sale three-quarters of the time, meaning that net sales rise from ONLINE ONLY OMNI-CHANNEL 65% to around 90% (Figure 6). Source: Shop Visible. The move to omni-channel has been bi-directional with e-commerce players acquiring brick and mortar retailers, and vice versa. In the past 12 months Walmart has acquired Jet.com and Bonobos; PetSmart has acquired Chewy’s; Nordstrom has acquired Trunk Club; and Saks Fifth Avenue has acquired GILT Groupe. The US$6.5 billion paid by the retailers in There has only been one these transactions marked a significant investment in building out an online presence to complement their physical presence, mall built in the US in the as well as the acquisition of technology and technologists that will be crucial in the retail landscape of the future. past decade. 4
Little Warehouse on the Prairie Imagine a time when consumers would have to go to a store, select among a limited number of offerings, and then pay whatever the merchant demands because competition is relatively low. Think then if technology brought a new entrant into that consumer’s world whereby the buyer could select from a seemingly infinite number of items in all sizes and colors, and then, as if by magic, have their purchases delivered to their home. Surely this would be the end of stores. Right? At the end of the 19th century, most Americans shopped at a general store that carried 100 to 200 items. In contrast to the drab physical shopping experience, technology in the form of the 1886 Bloomingdales catalog featured 1,700 items with illustrations and enticing prose. The Sears catalog of 1895 had 583 pages of merchandise that rural people didn’t know existed or know that they needed, but once they saw it, they sure did crave it. Ponder the competitive advantage these new entrants enjoyed with their ability to reach customers in far flung locales, present them an endless assortment of goods and ship to them directly. Clearly this technology-enabled competitor would lead to the extinction of local stores with their limited inventory and legacy cost structures. Not exactly. In fact, rather than rely solely on the catalog, Sears built on the success of the mail order business by opening brick and mortar stores around the country. In 1931, 50 years into the company’s existence, Sears' in-store sales volume eclipsed the catalog business for the first time, and forever thereafter. Retailers of the late 19th century pioneered omni-channel with their recognition that physical stores can complement technology to provide a broad set of purchase opportunities for their consumers. Technology-enabled competition is once again reshaping the retail landscape. Will brick and mortar survive? Will omni-channel once again be the winner?
Half of US Malls Could Close Within a Decade FIGURE 7 | US MALLS BY GRADE 160 25% The typical mall anchor department store was on life support after the pain inflicted from power centers in the 1990s. Just 140 before these companies went under, private equity and hedge 20% Share of Total Market Value 120 fund buyers were attracted to their cash flow potential and snatched them up in flurry from 2000–2008. The new owners 100 15% Count levered the operations to the point that debt service costs 80 prevented them from investing in e-commerce technologies 10% 60 and distribution capabilities that would have helped them weather the threat from online competitors. As a result, 40 5% these anchors are in dire financial condition and are no longer 20 drawing in the foot traffic needed to make the enclosed mall ecosystem viable. Anchors had been given extremely low 0 0% A++ A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D rental rates for their large footprint stores on long term leases. Grade of Malls The idea was that four or five of them on the outer spokes of Count Market Value a mall would draw consumers through the mall and into the Source: Green Street Advisors. inline merchants. These merchants would be willing to pay a much higher rental rate provided foot traffic was sufficient to ensure higher conversion. The more likely scenario is that the lower grade malls begin to As the anchors fail, however, the mall operator is left with a be decommissioned. Doing so may have a major impact on large format box that is hard enough to fill in the first place, the markets that rely on these centers, but is not likely to have let alone repurpose. These dark boxes at the end of the mall a large impact on the investable universe; even though the also diminish the consumer flow to the inline stores, which malls rated B or lower represent 60% of the number of malls, leads to a downward spiral in rental rates, occupancy and they are only 18% of the market value for US malls (Figure 7). merchant credit quality. Land parcels with decommissioned malls are being razed According to Green Street Advisors, there are approximately and repurposed as multifamily communities, single family 1,100 malls in the US, of which about 250 are Grade A or better. neighborhoods—or warehouse distribution centers for Within this stratum there are around 100 “trophy” or “fortress” e-commerce operators. malls that are the dominant center in their respective markets and are not likely to lose significant foot traffic to e-commerce in the near term given their strong market demographics and Seeking the Hole in the Donut unique merchant mix. The trophy malls tend to be closely held Converting former retail sites into distribution centers—or by a small number of REITs, core open-ended funds, pension in the case of the Amazon / Whole Foods deal, repositioning funds or sovereign wealth funds. They rarely trade hands. existing retail into distribution centers—solves the challenge Given that there has only been one mall built in the US in the of getting goods closer to their ultimate destination. For most past decade, the number of fortress malls is not likely to grow. of the 20th century, that ultimate destination for goods coming 6
from an industrial warehouse was a retail store located around the central business district (CBD) somewhere between FIGURE 8 | 20TH CENTURY URBAN PLANNING clusters of single family neighborhoods or multifamily communities (Figure 8). Delivering goods to these stores was aided by a highway system that developed ring roads to keep commercial vehicles from traversing residential surface streets. Now that the ultimate destination for goods ordered online is a home address, e-commerce operators are likely to continue to seek physical locations from which to manage logistics. These logistics include everything from traditional home delivery and returns processing, to hybrid click-and- pick scenarios where the consumer orders the items online for CBD Office in-store retrieval or where a consumer fills a virtual basket of Multi-family goods online and the store employees pick the physical basket Retail of goods to shopper’s specifications. In the latter scenario, the Single Family shopper can set a time to pick the order up, or the merchant Suburban Office might facilitate home delivery from a variety of gig-job Industrial services such as InstaCart or TaskRabbit. Source: StepStone Group. Buy Now, Or Wait for the Sale? With all the creative destruction that has occurred over the past few decades, one might assume that retail oriented real estate has been a volatile investment. However, the retail FIGURE 9 | 20 YEAR RISK/RETURN FOR PRIMARY sector has been the best performing and least volatile sector PROPERTY TYPES among the primary property types over the past 20 years (Figure 9). As the second largest sector in the NCREIF Property 11.5% Index, with a 22.3% weighting, retail has generated annual returns that are 100 basis points above the broader index with 11.0% and 10.0%, respectively (Figure 9). The standard 11.0% Retail deviation of retail returns is more than 200 basis points below Total Return that of office. 10.5% Industrial Granted there have been rapid developments in the retail All Properties landscape over the last 20 months that may cause some 10.0% to dismiss the return profile of the preceding 20 years, with Multifamily Office the common refrain that "past returns are not guarantees 9.5% of future results." However, those developments have yet to lead to significant changes in retail valuations 9.0% or fundamentals. 7.5% 8.0% 8.5% 9.0% 9.5% 10.0% 10.5% Standard Deviation of Annual Returns Source: NCREIF. Note: Size of circles corresponds to to sector weight within NCREIF. STEPSTONE | Retail Real Estate: Clean Up in Aisle Six, or Heading to Chapter-7? 7
The Real Capital Analytics cap rate for retail real estate ended FIGURE 10 | VALUATION METRICS FOR RETAIL REAL ESTATE the third quarter of 2017 within six basis points of the all-time 10% $300 low of 6.46% seen in 2007. On a price per square foot basis, retail is 16% over its long-term average and right on top of the 9% $250 2007 levels (Figure 10). Price Per Square Foot 8% 6.46% 6.52% Cap rates and prices are holding steady because the real Cap Rate 7% $200 estate fundamentals remain supportive of investment with 6% supply low, vacancy in check and rents growing for 23 straight $190 5% $188 $150 quarters (Figures 11 & 12). These strong fundamentals 4% controvert the weakness in the retail REITs, suggesting that $100 individual investors may be more spooked than institutional 3% asset owners. 3Q17 3Q01 3Q02 3Q03 3Q04 3Q05 3Q06 3Q07 3Q08 3Q09 3Q10 3Q11 3Q12 3Q13 3Q14 3Q15 3Q16 Cap Rate $/sf Source: Real Capital Analytics. The Future of Omni-channel Retail As stated above, not all sites will continue to be functional as FIGURE 11 | RETAIL SUPPLY & DEMAND retail given physical or market challenges with the asset. Some 15 12% of these sites will be scrapped; others will undergo significant repositioning to include new multifamily developments, 10% medical care facilities, and offices. Square Feet (millions) 10 Vacancy (%) 8% 5 6% 0 4% (5) In 2017, Walmart started 1Q11 2Q11 3Q11 4Q11 1Q12 2Q12 3Q12 4Q12 1Q13 2Q13 3Q13 4Q13 1Q14 2Q14 3Q14 4Q14 1Q15 2Q15 3Q15 4Q15 1Q16 2Q16 3Q16 4Q16 1Q17 2Q17 Demand Supply 10 Yr Avg New Supply Vacancy Source: REIS. a program in which shoppers can make FIGURE 12 | RETAIL SUPPLY & DEMAND $18.5 3% purchases online, have those orders filled from 2% $18.0 Year-Over-Year Change in Rent (%) 1% $17.5 a local store, and have 0% Rent (US$/SQFT) $17.0 (1%) the goods delivered by a (2%) $16.5 (3%) $16.0 Walmart associate on their (4%) $15.5 (5%) 1Q11 2Q11 3Q11 4Q11 1Q12 2Q12 3Q12 4Q12 1Q13 2Q13 3Q13 4Q13 1Q14 2Q14 3Q14 4Q14 1Q15 2Q15 3Q15 4Q15 1Q16 2Q16 3Q16 4Q16 1Q17 2Q17 Rent Y-O-Y Growth way home. Source: REIS. 8
The geographic positioning of many retail locations can make FIGURE 13 | 20TH CENTURY DISTRIBUTION MODEL them attractive hubs for the distribution of goods; most are likely to continue to serve that function as the consumer shopping model evolves from brick and mortar (Figure 13) or e-commerce (Figure 14) to omni-channel with brick and mortar and e-commerce (Figure 15). CBD Office Conclusions Multi-family Retail Observations based on national valuations for a broad Single Family category of real estate is of marginal utility given the wide Suburban Office variations from market to market and among property types Industrial (i.e., malls, power centers and grocery anchored sprint centers). It is also of marginal value to view headlines regarding tenant Source: StepStone Group. weakness as an indication of the value of the real estate they occupy. As with all real estate, location matters and this is particularly FIGURE 14 | E-COMMERCE MODEL true for retail oriented real estate given that the trade area demographics will determine whether the center will draw sufficient consumer spending to support the tenant mix. If the trade area and location are supportive of omni-channel retailers, or experiential retail, then there will likely continue to be value in the real estate. CBD Office StepStone Real Estate believes that investors should Multi-family be simultaneously cautious about the potential value Retail Single Family erosion that is likely to occur at certain retail properties Suburban Office and opportunistically positioned to take advantage of the Industrial re-pricing to gain exposure to assets that are well positioned to participate in the next generation of retail real estate. Source: StepStone Group. Specific risk factors that will drive the re-pricing are the smaller store sizes required by inventory-lite retail concepts, the functional obsolescence of certain configurations, and FIGURE 15 | OMNI-CHANNEL MODEL the reduced foot traffic caused by home delivery. One risk that investors should not fear is the risk of being too late. This re-pricing will take time so investors will be rewarded for sagacity and prudence. CBD Office Multi-family Retail Single Family Suburban Office Industrial Source: StepStone Group. STEPSTONE | Retail Real Estate: Clean Up in Aisle Six, or Heading to Chapter-7? 9
This document is for information purposes only and has been compiled with publicly available information. StepStone makes no guarantees of the accuracy of the information provided. This information is for the use of StepStone’s clients and contacts only. This report is only provided for informational purposes. This report may include information that is based, in part or in full, on assumptions, models and/or other analysis (not all of which may be described herein). StepStone makes no representation or warranty as to the reasonableness of such assumptions, models or analysis or the conclusions drawn. Any opinions expressed herein are current opinions as of the date hereof and are subject to change at any time. StepStone is not intending to provide investment, tax or other advice to you or any other party, and no information in this document is to be relied upon for the purpose of making or communicating investments or other decisions. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed in this report constitutes a solicitation, an offer or a recommendation to buy, sell or dispose of any investment, to engage in any other transaction or to provide any investment advice or service. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Actual results may vary. Each of StepStone Group LP, StepStone Group Real Assets LP and StepStone Group Real Estate LP is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). StepStone Group Europe LLP is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 551580. Swiss Capital Invest Holding (Dublin) Ltd (“SCHIDL”) is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor and Swiss Capital Alternative Investments AG (“SCAI”) (together with SCHIDL, “Swiss Cap”) is registered as a Relying Advisor with the SEC. Such registrations do not imply a certain level of skill or training and no inference to the contrary should be made. Manager references herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute investment recommendations. 10
StepStone is a global private markets firm overseeing more than US$135 billion of private capital allocations, including over US$35 billion of assets under management. The Firm creates customized portfolios for many of the world’s most sophisticated investors using a highly disciplined, research-focused approach that prudently integrates fund investments, secondaries and co-investments.
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