When I was a young marketing director at Horton Plaza shopping center in downtown San Diego, the property was a top visitor attraction in a downtown area experiencing a substantial growth spurt.  A high performer in our company’s portfolio, the center required significant focus and team collaboration.  Fortunately, I had the pleasure of working with Craig Pettitt, the property’s general manager at the time.  We spent countless hours, including many 80-hour work weeks, late nights, early mornings and meals together working on the ‘jewel’ project.  It was a fun and excitin

“Think big and act small.”  “Do the right thing.”  These are two of Phillips Edison & Company’s four core values.  Developed with input from PECO associates, these simple statements reflect PECO’s culture and guide our team as we make decisions and operate the company.  We believe in working together, acting with a small company mentality and accomplishing big things.  We also believe in doing what’s right, and part of that philosophy is giving back to the community. A natural result of these closely-held values is our PECO Community Partnership Program.

“A little perspective, like a little humor, goes a long way.” – Allen Klein, author

We all have read recently about how enclosed Class-B malls are struggling as retailers such as JC Penney and Sears continue to close stores leaving large anchor vacancies. Mall owners are scrambling to find creative ways to breathe life back into their properties.  Most recently, they’ve begun recognizing the benefits of necessity-based retail and are trying to bring that into the mall sector.

As one of the nation’s largest owners and operators of grocery-anchored shopping centers, Phillips Edison has always had a long-standing commitment to sustainability initiatives, based on a mission that is two-fold: be good stewards of the environment and do so in a way that makes business sense and adds value to our centers.
 

Aside from the normal business conversations at the annual ICSC RECon, it seems like the two most asked questions during the conference are “Where are you staying?” and “Where did you go  dinner?” This second question is the most important to me because I love hearing food ‘stories’. To help me plan my one “escape meal” during RECon, I asked some of my foodie friends about their favorites.

With ICSC RECon, our industry’s Super Bowl, quickly approaching, we are encouraging our team to maximize the networking opportunities at the show.  I remind them to use every minute wisely – whether it’s in meetings or on the bus. Every minute counts and every interaction is a potential contact.  The most valuable advice I feel that I can give the team is to “be intentional” in everything that they do before, during and after the event. 

People tend to shop within three miles of their homes and in today’s fast-paced lifestyle, the supermarket remains one of the few places almost everyone visits regularly.  This means that shoppers will most likely cross paths with people they know at least once during their average of two grocery store stops per week.

I never win anything. So, I was thrilled when I won a free registration to attend Shoptalk through The News Funnel. 

At Phillips Edison we often talk about the three “P’s” which are the foundation of our business. They are: people, partners and properties. There’s a reason why “people” comes first in that list. Our associates are our greatest resource and our most valuable asset. We believe that we have the best, the brightest and the most engaged team in the industry.