Watch retail consultant Robert Burke discuss the future of the shopping mall and the role it will play in a troubled retail landscape, with BoF’s Lauren Sherman and Cathaleen Chen.


 TRANSCRIPT

Robert Burke:

I think Saks Fifth Avenue has done a really good job in activating and bringing events to the store. Whether it's the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center, fireworks, this and that, and bringing Donatella to the store - Donatella Versace to the store… I think so much of that is going to need to be done online and be able to have things just like what we're having today. You know these live kind of conferences or interactions, but you know it’s clearly going to be a long time [before things are back to normal]or maybe it won't ever happen in the same sort of way that it did, these in-store events. But I think that it needs to happen in connecting [with] the customer virtually.