In this dog-eat-dog retail world of shopping center operators and mall developers working every angle and concession to bring in new retail tenants, the last thing mall landlords need is a commercial construction general contractor who doesn’t know the rules causing headaches for everybody.

And by causing headaches, I mean a GC that annoys your existing retail tenants and chases away shoppers with their inexperience in shopping center and retail construction projects. So heed my advice and follow these shopping center construction tips:

1. The successful retail construction firms are the ones your shoppers can’t see or hear – it’s like they don’t exist. After all, commercial construction is noisy work. The best shopping center contractors and retail construction firms know demolition and construction work needs to happen at least four hours before normal business hours to reduce disruptions to shoppers.
2. Commercial construction is a dirty business. The best time to haul debris to a dumpster is when shoppers aren’t around. But, you also need to be mindful of a shopping center’s neighbors. We’ve done a lot of work at Westfield Old Orchard, which is close to a residential area, so you also can’t be kicking up dirt and dust in people’s yards either.
3. If you’re opening new retail in a mix-used development, your GC needs to understand the unique commercial construction challenges this type or project entails. For example, we’re currently doing Chicago retail construction prep work for General Growth for the new Water Tower Place Armani store. Water Tower Place includes a shopping center, hotel and residential tower, so the noise level needs to be minimized for everyone. Extra measures need to be taken, such as adding extra insulation barricades to adjacent tenant walls for sound deafening.
4. It’s imperative that a GC knows how to communicate with all parties in a shopping center retail build out, or what I refer to as the shopping center holy trinity – security personnel, dock managers and mall management. A smart commercial general contractor knows how to get out of the way and let the office of the building QB the process, because the biggest challenge of any new shopping center construction project is the coordination of materials.
5. If your GC schedules Monday a.m. deliveries, they’re a novice to new restaurant construction. We stay away from Monday a.m. deliveries because that’s when restaurants receive their food. In fact, each mall will have a rhythm of deliveries that a GC needs to learn and coordinate around. Merchandise and food deliveries will always take precedence so you don’t want a GC with down time waiting for construction deliveries. All that does is delay the job.
6. Protect the merchandise! Certain materials have to come in a certain way through the general mall – like the cash wrap, a large piece of millwork, etc. Successful retail contractors know how to protect a mall’s common areas from bulky materials and not interfere with customers walking through the mall.
7. It’s tough enough getting shoppers to come to your mall, so look for a GC that wants to give customers a great shopping experience during construction. Use their construction barricade to your advantage by putting out signs and directions that tell shoppers where to go and what new and exciting experience they’ll soon have at your shopping center.
8. Beware of parking poachers. Customers always get the closest spots, so make sure construction teams are parking in the proper areas.

Even though shopping center construction can happen 24 hours a day – and it usually does – the most successful projects are when nobody else knows we’re there. The barricade comes down and people ask “where in the world did this store come from?”

Chuck Taylor
Director of Operations
Tel: 847-233-9200 x712

Questions? Comments? You can reach me at chuck.taylor@englewoodconstruction.com 

www.EnglewoodConstruction.com