LAS VEGAS—At this year’s ICSC Las Vegas 2026 conference, experts agree that retail is evolving into a more operationally sophisticated, service-oriented and investment-attractive asset class. From logistics-driven site selection to the rise of experiential tenants and renewed institutional capital flows, industry leaders tell GlobeSt.com that the sector is entering a structurally different phase than the one investors faced just a few years ago.
Executives at CBRE, for example, say the sector’s momentum is being fueled by a combination of constrained supply, shifting consumer behavior and changing expectations around convenience.
Laura Barr, Americas retail leader at CBRE, told GlobeSt.com that brands are treating logistics as part of the customer experience rather than merely a backend operational function.