Market Spotlight: Sarasota.Manatee Retail Market

Despite the tumult the retail industry has experienced during the length of the current economic growth cycle, with store closings and bankruptcies and disruptions from online shopping, to name a few, the Sarasota and Manatee area has shown consistent and steady growth since 2014. While most of the submarket’s growth has been centered around new restaurants, fitness centers, discounters and grocery offerings, community-oriented strip centers have also found a footing to accommodate population influx. At the same time, revitalizations to a pair of malls — Desoto Square in Bradenton and Southgate in Sarasota — have proved challenging to date for their owners, the result of changing demographics, store offerings and shopping habits. In both the roster of new merchants and mall trajectories, however, the Sarasota/Manatee area largely mirrors the balance of the Gulf Coast. Still, retail development has kept pace with other sectors and throughout 2018 performed better than in other locales in Florida.