🚀 Retail Vacancies Rising

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Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. With national retail vacancies rising to 5.8% in mid-2025 as chain stores abandon leases, small businesses are finding rare opportunities to secure prime commercial real estate once out of reach. From wellness practitioners to gourmet food shops, local operators are negotiating lower rents, flexible leases, and even short-term pop-up deals, filling empty spaces with service-based and community-focused businesses. While landlords face the risk that over half of small businesses fail within six years, many are willing to trade stability for occupancy, offering favorable terms to keep malls and strip centers active. The trend varies by geography, with some metro areas like New York still pricing out independents, but in many regions, vacant storefronts are becoming canvases for local entrepreneurs to reimagine community spaces. For tenants and landlords alike, the new dynamic is a mix of opportunity and uncertainty, reshaping Main Street in the shadow of struggling malls.

2. What began as a Utah soda shop novelty is now a full-blown national craze: “dirty soda,” the fizzy mix of pop, cream, and syrups, is reviving America’s sluggish soft drink market. Swig, the chain that coined the term in 2010, has grown to 140 locations and inspired rivals from Dutch Bros. to Taco Bell, while PepsiCo and Keurig Dr Pepper are rolling out ready-to-drink versions like Dirty Dew and Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut. The drinks’ TikTok-fueled rise and ties to pop culture have helped carbonated soft drink sales tick upward for the first time in decades, attracting young consumers with a customizable, affordable treat that restaurants can serve straight from their soda machines. For brands, dirty soda isn’t just a trend—it’s a recruitment tool drawing a new generation back to soda.

3. With just days before government funding expires, President Trump will meet Monday with congressional leaders Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Mike Johnson, and John Thune as a shutdown looms. The talks follow a week of escalating tensions, with Trump cancelling an earlier meeting at the urging of GOP leaders and Democrats blasting him for rejecting their push to tie healthcare measures to a stopgap bill. Both sides remain dug in: Democrats insist on attaching healthcare provisions, while Republicans demand a “clean” short-term bill with negotiations later. Meanwhile, federal agencies have been told to prepare mass layoff plans in case funding lapses, putting millions of jobs at risk. The high-stakes standoff leaves Congress with less than 48 hours to strike a deal or plunge the government into shutdown.

   Headlines

   1. Starbucks will be closing stores and beginning layoffs as part of a $1B restructuring plan.

   2. The latest US Census shows that there are 29.8 million solopreneurs in the United States, contributing $1.7T to the economy.

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