Jodi Shoemake, Founding Principal at Lee & Associates – Pasadena, gives interview to Bisnow about ICSC’s RECon 2020

May 19, 2020 (PASADENA, CA)

Jodi Shoemake, Founding Principal at Lee & Associates – Pasadena, gives an interview to Bisnow about the changes to this years’ annual RECon event typically held in Las Vegas, NV.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus and following state and local orders, the International Council of Shopping Centers in March canceled its annual RECon retail convention in Las Vegas. The group postponed its other events through August.  But with RECon and other live retail events canceled, retail industry players are adopting new ways to network, generate leads and get deals done in a challenging pandemic environment.

“We have to transition, much like how retail is transitioning,” Lee & Associates principal Jodi Shoemake said. RECon, originally slated for May 17 to May 20, is considered the premier business conference. More than 30,000 retailers, retail brokers, service providers, investors, owners and managers of retail properties gather every year.

Since RECon was put on hiatus, Shoemake, who is based in Pasadena and has been attending RECon for the past eight years, said she is getting more leads and doing more business at this time than she would if she were in Las Vegas. The coronavirus, she found, has brought many in the industry closer together, as they all try to navigate the shifting winds of the business from home.

“I feel like I have more contacts added to my database than in years past,” Shoemake said. To bulk up that list, Shoemake said she scours the names of attendees of every webinar she attends, places their info in her database, looks them up and makes an effort to connect with them either via email, LinkedIn or a phone call. “We have to be resourceful at this time,” she said.

“We all know retail is in transition. This is going to be an example of survival of the fittest.”  Still, she laments that she won’t be attending RECon this year, because although she prefers attending local ICSC events, the national convention is a different animal.

“There’s nothing that can replace the energy of 30,000 people inside a convention hall,” she said. “I feel like it’s important to go. It’s a social event. The big landlords, big companies are all holding court in the convention hall or hotels, and there are a lot of cocktail parties.”

Read Full Article: https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/retail/with-no-icsc-recon-retailers-find-a-different-way-to-get-deals-done-104411

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About Lee & Associates

Lee & Associates – Pasadena is a full service commercial real estate company headquartered in Pasadena, CA. Our client-focused brokers specialize in office, retail, tenant advisory, multifamily, and investment sales. As the fastest growing broker-owned firm in the nation, with more than 60 office locations in North America, we are uniquely qualified to support our clients’ real estate needs in the local, national and international markets. For more information, visit lee-pasadena.com.

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