The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated trends across commercial real estate sectors. For the retail sector, that meant serious headwinds in 2020 as online shopping became even more prevalent amid lockdowns and shelter-in-place provisions. Looking ahead to 2021, in-store shopping may see a resurgence, says Scott Grossfeld, partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson.

“COVID-19 appears to have accelerated the trend toward greater reliance on ecommerce in the retail sector, as well as curbside pickup at brick-and-mortar stores,” said Grossfeld. “During the pandemic, while local governmental regulations required the closures of nonessential businesses in many jurisdictions, larger cross-sections of consumers turned to the internet and ecommerce to fulfill their nonessential retail needs. As vaccinations take root and the medical community gets the upper hand on the virus, we foresee that in 2021, people will become more comfortable returning to traditional physical shopping, and ecom