The Week In News, But Shorter
July 20 -26, 2026

A Weekly PropTech Newsletter bringing you industry updates from across the real estate spectrum

American Dream recently opened a 60,000-square-foot event center with Manhattan skyline views, proving that the experience economy is just as relevant for property owners as ever. But even if you don’t have 60,000 available square-feet, another article this week highlighted how property owners are transforming existing unused space for exclusive dining events. Think a lobby that sees foot traffic only during commuting hours, an amenity floor that sits quiet five nights a week, a rooftop with a view that nobody is paying to experience – all an asset waiting to be activated rather than simply a gap in the occupancy ledger. Do you have experiential spaces in your property, or unused spaces that you could reconsider? DM us on LinkedIn if you want to brainstorm!

Also this week, AI is helping in some retail and restaurant spaces, but falling short in others. And as we head into full-on back-to-school season, some retailers lean into nostalgia, including for the mall itself.

A quick programming note: This newsletter will be on hiatus next week, but back in your inbox on August 10.

Digital Meets Physical

Why AI Can’t Crack The Code Of Luxury Desire [Forbes] Luxury consumers are increasingly adopting generative and agentic AI as partners in their luxury shopping journey. A McKinsey survey among 300 luxury consumers found that 85% use an AI assistant to support shopping decisions and 83% report high satisfaction with AI shopping tools. The stage is set for luxury brands to plug into the agentic commerce ecosystem.

AI in Retail: 71% of Consumers Expect to Increase AI Use While Shopping [StoreBrands] Artificial intelligence’s impact on retail remains a hot topic, and a new national survey found that many Americans are using the technology to help find the products they need. The survey from LDWW, an integrated marketing agency, found that nearly 70% of Americans are using AI when shopping, with 71% expecting to use the technology more in the years ahead.

Washington Watchdogs Take Notice As AI Becomes Retail’s Front Door [Forbes] Shoppers increasingly are abandoning the search bar for an AI agent’s chat box. McKinsey calls AI the online shoppers’ “new front door.” Fellow Forbes.com contributor Greg Petro describes AI-powered shopping as “conversational commerce” and predicts it will lead to the “inevitable sunset of traditional search advertising.”

4 ways AI-using restaurants are cutting food, labor costs to outpace competitors [FastCasual.com] Let’s start with the obvious: Restaurants using AI are pulling ahead of those that aren’t. If that headline alone doesn’t shock you, I’m not surprised. We’ve been watching this trend build for a while now, but mid-year research from Restaurant365 puts real numbers behind the gap.

Michaels teams with Google on new ‘Ask Mike’ AI shopping assistant [Chain Store Age] The Michaels Companies Inc. has released “Ask Mike,” a new AI-based shopping assistant built with the Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience agentic AI platform. Now live, the tool allows shoppers to describe their creative ideas in conversational language and instantly receive curated, personalized product recommendations on desktop, mobile, or the iOS or Android app.

This Startup Is Using AI to Bring Flat Lay Fashion to Life [WWD] All it takes is one picture of a dress on a flat surface. Then the AI makes it look like a product of a professional photoshoot, with an AI model wearing the dress. PixPix, an AI-powered image and video platform for e-commerce, has recently launched an AI fashion model workflow that essentially stretches what brands can do with a single image.

PropTalk

30 minutes from NYC: The second-largest mall in the U.S. just opened a massive 60,000-square-foot event center with Manhattan skyline views [Secret NYC] New Jersey’s American Dream mall never seems to slow down. The massive entertainment complex is already onto its next big swing. The second-largest mall in the U.S. officially opened a brand-new 60,000-square-foot Event Center, and it comes with one of the best views in the building

Real Estate Owners Are Using Exclusive Dining Events to Activate Unused Space and Attract New Tenants [Propmodo] Commercial real estate owners have always understood that empty spaces are lost opportunities. What they have been slower to recognize is that underutilized space is an asset waiting to be activated rather than simply a gap in the occupancy ledger.

Why brands are sharing retail space [Retail Insights Network] A growing number of retailers are opening their stores to other brands instead of using every square metre to sell their own products. What was once unusual has become an important retail strategy, with businesses sharing shop floors for pop-up stores, product launches, workshops, cafés and community events. The approach is known by several names, including Retail-as-a-Service (RaaS), co-retailing, and shop-in-shop retailing.

Stagnant Germany Considers the Unthinkable: Sunday Shopping [The Wall Street Journal] From Monday to Saturday, stores in Germany operate much like in any other market economy. On Sundays, however, iron curtains roll shut, turning city centers into eerie, echoey deserts. The rule is rooted in Article 140 of the 1949 constitution. Borrowed from its Weimar-era predecessor, it proclaims Sundays and holidays “days of rest from work and of spiritual elevation.”

Study: Retail property sale price per square foot increased 15% in June [Chain Store Age] A new analysis reveals that retail continues to outperform the broader commercial real estate market. Pricing strengthened across nearly every major asset class, but retail remained the market’s strongest performer, with sale prices per square foot increasing 15.1% year over year and asking prices climbing 4.6% year over year.

From Yamal to the mall: How American Eagle is going back to school [RetailDive] Along with its heavyweight brand partners, American Eagle will focus on engaging Gen Z in other arenas as part of its back-to-school campaign, chief among them the mall. The cohort’s share of foot traffic at malls increased 57% year over year, according to PwC data cited by the brand — a behavior change that also informed a recent effort by American Eagle competitor Aéropostale.

How AI is Changing the In-store Experience [WWD] As retailers and brands continue to invest in AI, the impact on the shopping experience and consumer behavior is transformative, according to two research reports. The data also revealed gaps in in-store operations but also opportunities to make improvements.