Shopping centre retail spend redefined

ommon wisdom in assessing the nature of spend in a shopping centre has, for many years, been defining the profile of shopping patterns between discretionary and nondiscretionary expenditure in a relatively naïve analysis of the profile of retailers. Simply, supermarket and everyday food stores were non-discretionary and most others, particularly apparel and similar stores, were defined as discretionary. COVID-19 has brought about a whole new perspective, particularly in the lead-up to the lockdown periods when consumer-driven hoarding patterns became apparent. This new world of retailing became even more complex with government decrees of what constituted essential and non-essential businesses and services. In turn, these categories were used to determine which businesses and services were still permitted to operate and which were