Columbus, Ohio — Steiner + Associates, L Brands and Georgetown Co., co-developers of Easton Town Center in Columbus, have signed nine new tenants to the $225 million mixed-use center.

Abercrombie & Fitch is going to school with a new concept store aimed at university students, according to one of its landlords in Columbus, Ohio.

The challenges facing developers and retailers as they plan for the shopping venues of tomorrow were brought home by a panel of shopping center executives at the SPECS session, “Shopping Venues of Tomorrow,” moderated by Lou Allevato, principal, HFA.

For shoppers, this city of 860,000 smack in the middle of a swing state, can feel like an alternate reality, a place where up is down and down is up. Frumpy department stores feature personal shopping services and boutique wellness amenities. Workaday grocery stores like Kroger offer exotic fruits and freshly baked artisan breads.

The problem with retail isn’t too much Amazon; it’s too many stores. The retail world is in the midst of a culling, or sorts. As many as 9,000 stores are expected to close by the end of the year with names as varied in size and scope as Sears, Macy’s, Payless Shoesource, Gymboree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Radio Shack all slimming down and some, such as The Limited and H.H. Gregg, going away completely.

More than 50,000 sq. ft. of new shopping opportunities will soon be presented to shoppers at Ohio’s most popular retail destination.

GlobeSt.com caught up with retail expert Anne Mastin, EVP of retail real estate at Steiner + Associates at the 2017 RECon, to talk about how retail is no longer about just filling a box and what she thinks the future will look like.

Steiner and Tavistock unveiled the Lake Nona Town Center model to the more than 40,000 ICSC RECon attendees on Monday, May 22 in Las Vegas.

The days of the traditional shopping mall are behind us, making way for lifestyle and entertainment options where traditional big-box anchor tenants once stood.

In a city known worldwide for bringing immersive and engaging environments to life and where more than 66 million visitors converge annually for leisure time activities, an innovative, next generation master-planned community is well underway.