During the worst of the pandemic, many digitallly native brands said they might never open a physical store again. Now, many have changed their tunes. Gabrielle Licht specializes in leasing to DTC brands and emerging concepts at Macerich, owner of Class A retail and mixed-use destinations across the U.S. She now has regular conversations with digital brands with ambitious store growth plans. Rebecca Fitts, Director of Real Estate at Leap, is working with a growing roster of digital brands opening physical stores. Leap is a retail platform for brands like A Pea in the Pod, Mack Weldon and Rent the Runway. With a fresh $50 million in Series B financing, Leap plans to add 150 new stores in 2022.   James Cook is the director of retail research in the Americas for JLL.    Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts Listen: WhereWeBuy.show  Alexa: Say "Enable the Where We Buy skill"   Email: jamesd.cook@am.jll.com    Watch our week video show, Everything We Know About Retail: http://everythingweknow.show/   Leave a message on the Where We Buy hotline. We may use it on an upcoming show. Call (602) 633-4061    Read more retail research here:  http://www.us.jll.com/retail   Theme music is Run in the Night by The Good Lawdz, under Creative Commons license.