Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | October 25, 2021 | wbjournal.com F A C T B O O K R E A L E S T A T E T he changing face of retail is having a profound impact on Massachusetts' real estate and development landscape. Online shopping has been on the up-and-up ever since retail giants like Amazon burst onto the scene, taking a larger bite out of retail sales every year. e coronavirus pandemic accelerat- ed e-commerce sales across Massachu- setts, with a 34% jump during the first nine months of the pandemic, according to a report from the Boston-based Metropolitan Area Planning Council. By February 2021, online shopping made up 14% of total retail sales in the state. Yet, these shis don't seem to spell out a death sentence for brick-and-mortar retailers, rather a resounding message to e large shi in retail offerings in the last five years has changed the way planners & developers are approaching real estate BY KATHERINE HAMILTON WBJ Staff Writer Retail developments adapt to changing consumer demands. The omnichannel Compared with other countries, the United States has an exorbitant amount of retail space with an estimat- ed 25 square feet of retail per person, said Todd Alexander, an executive vice president specializing in retail at Worces- ter commercial real estate agency Kelleher & Sa- dowsky Associ- ates. "We've over- built over the years, so we've seen reposition- ing going on and retail evolving much more over the last few years," he said. Almost 14 million square feet of retail space has been converted to industrial space over the past three years nation- wide, according to a 2020 report from Dallas real estate firm CBRE Group. is change is evidenced in local de- velopment projects like Reliant Medical Group's move to a shopping center in Westborough in 2017, and this year's redevelopment of Worcester's Greendale Mall, which is set to become an Amazon distribution center. Of the 34 Amazon facilities in op- eration or planned in the state, 11 are located in Central Massachusetts, and all of them have cropped up within the last seven years, according to the MAPC Todd Alexander, vice president, Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates E-commerce giant Amazon will open a brick-and-mortar 4-star store in the Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury. Allen Fletcher's unique take on retail gives small busi- nesses an alterna- tive to investing in brick-and-mortar storefronts. PHOTO/EDD COTE PHOTO/COURTESY OF AMAZON

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