Following the great financial crisis (GFC), “retail” became synonymous with “mall.” This misleading equation grew out of private capital’s shorthand for various shopping center formats, including neighborhood centers, power centers, lifestyle centers, single-tenant retail, and yes, malls, among others. By lumping them together, they failed to differentiate retail into its component parts, which have proven historically to perform very differently.

The strongest and most consistent track record retail subsector is necessity retail.

The next five years further tested the thesis that necessity retail can outperform the broader retail sector, as it was affected by escalating ecommerce pressures, mandatory government shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the largest capital markets adjustment since the GFC. Yet, even with these powerful headwinds, necessity retail continued to outperform all other retail categories.

In 2017, when debating with a room