The pandemic showed many that life in the big city might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Perhaps as a result, the Sun Belt over the last four years has seen population growth that’s bringing new opportunities for retailers.

As of 2022, 12 of the 15 fastest growing cities were in the Sun Belt, loosely defined as the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. From April 2020 through July of last year, the South’s population grew by 3.9 million people, according to Census data, with cities in Florida, Georgia, and Texas seeing some of the largest population spikes.

What has followed is massive growth in demand for retail real estate with 13% less space available in Sun Belt states compared to the national average, according to JLL. The top eight markets with the highest population growth between mid-2022 and mid-2023 were all located in the Sun Belt.

“The numbers that we open up have to be successful, so we’re going to place our efforts where we have the highest chance of success,” Naveen Jaggi, JLL’s president of retail advisory services. “[The] highest chance of success is seasonal weather, which is outdoor, livable, and livable for nine, 10 months of the year. And the Sun Belt area does that.”

Keep reading here.—KM

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Coming from one of the biggest companies in the world, perhaps it’s not surprising that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s annual letter to shareholders reads like a victory speech. It spotlights how the e-commerce giant is not only getting faster, but cheaper, too: “As we look toward 2024 (and beyond), we’re not done lowering our cost to serve,” he wrote. “We’ve challenged every closely held belief in our fulfillment network, and reevaluated every part of it, and found several areas where we believe we can lower costs even further while also delivering faster for customers.”

• The CEO also highlighted how Amazon continued to invest in speedier deliveries with “regionalization.”
• Jassy spent the back half of the letter talking about the future: “Sometimes, people ask us, ‘What’s your next pillar? You have Marketplace, Prime, and AWS, what’s next?’...If you asked me today, I’d lead with Generative AI.”

Keep reading here.—AV

Coming in hot: Saks.com has landed “up to $60 million in incremental liquidity” from a lender syndicate led by Pathlight Capital and Bank of America that enables the retailer to maintain “low debt levels,” a spokesperson told WWD.

“The additional capital enhances our financial position as we continue to navigate the challenging macro-environment,” the spokesperson said.

Saks increased its term loan with Pathlight to $215 million. The retailer may also be able to access $20 million more in the future.

The department store appears to have struggled with liquidity recently; last fall, many vendors accused Saks of not paying them, and some brands stopped shipping products to the retailer.

Keep reading here.—JS

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