Although shopping centers continue to house the majority of retail stores in the United States, retailers are slowly moving back to Main Street to diversify their storefronts, according a study by the National Retail Federation (Washington).

According to the 2007 NRF Retail Real Estate study, retailers planned to locate 11 percent of their stores in urban street-front locations by the end of 2007, compared with 8 percent in 2006. To compensate, companies cut back slightly on their number of mall and strip mall locations (44 percent in 2007, versus 48 percent in 2006).

The survey also showed that retailers are continuing to move toward lifestyle centers, with 9 percent of stores in that format compared with 8 percent in 2006.

“Urban storefronts are beginning to play an increasingly important role in retailers’ real estate strategies,” said Carleen Kohut, chief financial officer for NRF. “Throughout the country, traditional main streets are being revitalized to include an assortment of new retail shops, from department and clothing stores to coffee shops.”

When determining the best location for a store, four out of five retail real estate executives say demographic information is the most important factor. Other crucial factors include evaluating competitive information (51 percent), traffic patterns (49 percent) and geographic factors like the existing and future population (49 percent). [February 2008 PET AGE]