One Month After RECON — The Outlook for the Second Half of 2011
This week marks both the one-month mark since the International Council of Shopping Centers’ (ICSC) annual RECON conference, as well as the end of the first half of 2011. RECON attendance surpassed 30,000 attendees for the first time since 2008, but still remains substantially off attendance levels reached several years ago. Although there was a fair amount of activity at this year’s show, particularly in the retail area on the second floor of South Hall, impressions of the climate for getting deals done were mixed, much like the economic indicators which have been circulating in recent months. Nevertheless, cautious optimism seems to be a fairly common theme in the retail sector for the remainder of 2011, and somewhat more enthusiastic optimism for 2012 and beyond.