CEO of Simon Property Group says shopper traffic increases, remains conservative

An increase in traffic for open-air and suburban shopping centers has been very encouraging, and retail sales continued to approve across Simon Property Group’s portfolio, with higher sales volumes in March compared to 2019 levels, according to David Simon, CEO and president of the Indianapolis-based REIT, during its first quarter 2021 call.

The mall owner has a conservative outlook for consumer behaviors, noted Simon, even though “between being cooped up, between being locked down, between the stimulus, between celebrating that we're [as a] country still around and we're still going to try to get back to normal — there's clearly some level of euphoria around that. It would be impossible for me to tell you what percent that is, but that's why we're being conservative.”

Simon continued, “On the other hand, we're still seeing pockets of the country that haven't really seen that yet. California is a great example, parts of the New York region. There's still no i