Cleveland Retail Market Report

Retailers expand suburban presence, reducing vacancy. Despite health crisis shocks across the nation's retail sector, Cleveland's vacancy rate recaptured the 4.7 percent 2019 benchmark entering the second quarter of 2022. While this can be partially attributed to limited supply additions over the past four quarters , it also illustrates retailers' heightened interest in suburban submarkets — a response to more than 2,900 multifamily units being absorbed in these areas over the past year. Stark County and Northeast and Southwest Cleveland, the metro's largest retail submarkets by inventory, each recorded vacancy compressions of at least 60 basis points over the past four quarters, driven by notable demand for single-tenant space. While overall retail availability in each locale exceeds its pre-pandemic recording, strong apartment demand in these areas moving forward should fuel additional retailer expansions.