As retail centers brace for slower holiday traffic, so are their eatery tenants, says this WSJ article.
Sure, what chains aren’t suffering, restaurants or not? But one analyst, Oppenheimer & Co.’s Matthew DiFrisco points out something we hadn’t fully considered: “They live off the flow of traffic going to lifestyle centers and malls, and are trying to intercept you while you’re out shopping.”
We had always thought that shopping-center owners, especially mall landlords, signed tenants such as California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory and Kona Grill because they would bring traffic that wasn’t already there shopping.
Either way, traffic is down everywhere, and consumers are spending less, so why would restaurants be any different? Or do you see some silver lining for non fast-food chains?
Counter Culture 
Perhaps the good news is that people will discover that they have a less stressful holiday season and find new joy in their family and friends if they are out shopping less and eating at home. To tell you the truth I hope people make a transistion to a more frugal life style because it is far more reliable and predictable for real estate. I expect a very low key holiday this year and if the stock market reacts with shock at retail sales figures again I am going to loose all confidence in them, this is a very big elephant who has been standing in these woods for a very long time.