Boston Retail Market Report

Return-to-office initiatives support urban foot traffic. Amazon recently announced that all employees will be required to return to the office five days a week starting in 2025, making it the largest company to implement such a policy. This comes after Fidelity and Deutsche Bank introduced similar plans to increase in-office work and, assuming the decision holds, could prompt more to follow suit. The substantial presence of these firms in downtown Boston is likely to benefit nearby retailers, who have struggled to recover foot traffic since the pandemic. Increased consumer spending at these stores is expected to drive rent growth, which has been subdued in the city center due to difficulties in attracting tenants. While vacancy has ticked up, it has done so from historic lows, and with minimal construction activity, urban retail is well-positioned moving forward.