Dive Brief:
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Construction of stores and restaurants will spike in 2015, national general construction firm Englewood Construction forecast last week.
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National retailers and restaurant owners added new venues and also tore down exiting ones so they could replace them with upgraded and expanded models that met their companies’ brand standards, according to William Di Santo, president of the Lemont, IL, firm. He said most of the construction in that sector is ground-up rather than retrofit.
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Shopping mall renovations also will be prominent in the coming year, Di Santo predicted. Their focus, he said, will be on making trips to the mall “more experiential.”
Dive Insight:
As more people shop online instead of at the mall, shopping center owners have had to get creative about luring customers away from their computer screens. Their strategy: add more entertainment options, like movie theaters and bowling alleys—and both are trending for the new year, Di Santo said.