LAS VEGAS - Let the deal making begin.
More than 300 people from Greater Cincinnati are here this week for the International Council of Shopping Centers' annual RECon conference.
The global convention for the shopping center industry attracts more than 36,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors together for networking, education and negotiating deals.
And despite recent reports of struggles among large retailers and departments including Cincinnati-based Macy's, officials from the New York-based shopping center trade group say there's plenty of reason for optimism. The group said conference attendance this year was the highest since the recession ended in 2009.
"Retail is a cyclical business," ICSC spokesman Jesse Tron said. "You can't look at the next peak when you're in the middle of the valley. The best retailers, the ones that stick around meet modern consumers' desires. There are way more winners than there are losers."
Tron said there are a few good trends happening in the retail sector: Occupancy rates at shopping centers are nearly 94 percent nationwide and shopping center operators are seeing rising rents and operating profit.
Similar to the last few years, Tron said one of the biggest conference themes will be how retailers continue omnichannel development. Figuring out how to capitalize on in-store experiences as well as digital shopping platforms has been an industry challenge as e-commerce and online shopping have grown.
Although it's still a work-in-progress for most retailers, Tron said retailers have to be smart about how they use technology to attract and serve customers.
"It can be technology for the sake of technology," he said. "It has to be about making the customer experience better."
Another big trend at the conference will be how retailers and shopping centers can better serve the millennial generation customers. Millennials, people between the ages of 19 and 35, are now the largest living generation in the United States after surpassing Baby Boomers, people between the ages of 52 and 70, according to the US Census Bureau.
Millennials, Tron said, still want in-store experiences although they are adept and comfortable with online shopping. The generation could also drive changes in urban and suburban retail shopping, which means the shopping center owners have to adapt to meet their needs.
Speaking earlier this month at a University of Cincinnati real estate event in Madeira, ICSC president and CEO Tom McGee said the retail sector is making headway in that regard. One of the places in the industry where that's happening is movie theaters, especially those that are building out dine-in concepts.
"Clearly in this day and age you can download any movie you want," McGee said. "People still gather to go to a movie theater to watch a movie. Why do they do that? Because people like to interact. They like to have that experience. That's what our industry is capable of doing, bringing people together."