Newsday's feature of CEO Dave Henry

“Executive Suite: David Henry.” Newsday’s Christine Giordano interviewed our CEO, Dave Henry, for the publication’s weekly Executive Suite column. Check out the Q&A for Dave’s thoughts on the ever-changing retail real estate market and Kimco’s acquisition strategy, and keep reading to find out about his favorite gadgets and ways to unwind.

“Ardmore’s Suburban Square courtyard wraps up for the holidays.” We’re undertaking an expansive $1.5 million renovation project at Suburban Square, our open-air center in Ardmore, Pa. Mainline Media News’ Cheryl Allison spoke to Suburban Square’s General Manager, Mark Bachus, on the new improvements. Read her story for an update on the construction. Also watch our video interview with Mark to learn how his team drove traffic to Suburban Square during the holidays amidst the renovations.

“Growing demand for ethnic food correlates to increased minority populations.” Minority-aimed grocery stores and services are rapidly growing, and we are seeing an increase in demand for these types of stores in our shopping centers. Conor Flynn, our President of the Western Region, spoke with the Victoria Advocate’s Gheni Platenburg on this trend. Flip over to the article for his analysis and advice on how retailers should adapt to changing demographics. For more of Conor’s insights on this topic (in English or Spanish), see his blog post about why small Hispanic grocers are poised to break out nationally.

But while these stats show signs of good things to come, it doesn’t mean every retailer is doing well. What’s important to you is how you can boost your foot traffic and sales. This is especially true if you are a smaller retailer, as some mid-sized stores and mom-and-pop shops have to work twice as hard to compete against the big-box juggernauts.

We asked our blogging team to reach out to some of our retailers and property managers to find out what they’re doing to increase their foot traffic this holiday season. One of the first who stepped up was Mark Bachus, the General Manager of Suburban Square, Kimco’s open-air lifestyle center in Ardmore, Pa.

We interviewed him to get his take on the retail traffic and sales forecasts, and the strategy and tactics he’s using to drive traffic to Suburban Square this holiday season. Mark told us the #1 way to get consumers into stores this season, as well as the biggest mistake retailers can make to hurt their sales. Tune in for Mark’s perspective and advice, or click the links below to jump to a specific part in the video.

• About Suburban Square
• Mark’s predictions on holiday sales increases
• How Suburban Square is driving traffic to its retailers this holiday season
• How Suburban Square is working with its retailers to develop holiday plans
• #1 way Mark believes retailers will drive traffic this holiday season
• Biggest mistake Mark believes will hurt retailers’ sales this holiday season
• Mark’s overall outlook on the holiday shopping season

If you don’t have time to watch video, here’s a quick snapshot of the ideas and tips Mark covered during our interview. But there’s a lot more where that came from, so we encourage you to watch the video when you have time.

• Integrate social media into your traffic-driving efforts. Now is the time to launch a social media marketing program if you don’t have one, or build upon the program you have in place.

• Amp up your customer service. Make sure you have enough employees on hand to help customers on the floor at the point of sale.

• Hold in-store entertainment events, private shopping nights, and evenings for friends and family to create fun, personal shopping experiences.

After you’re done watching, share your strategies for boosting foot traffic this holiday season in the comments section.

You can also read the transcript of our interview here.