Guess what Walmart bought itself for Valentine’s day? A shopping mall.

Yes, Walmart is the buyer of Monroeville Mall and has selected a Dallas-based real estate and development firm it has worked with in the past to “reimagine” the property in the wake of the purchase.

The plan is to transform the shopping complex into “a new retail and commercial destination.” The eventual redevelopment will be mixed-use. It could include retail, food and beverage, entertainment, hospitality and perhaps even residential components.

Current tenants at the two-level mall include Macy’s, H&M, Bath & Body Works, American Eagle, Lenscrafters, Victoria's Secret, Lids, and more. The mall is also home to a Cinemark movie theater.

As if the competition in the shopping mall CRE was not heavy enough, here comes this Godzilla of retail and drops $34.0 million, in cash, on a non-defined but potentially lucrative development.

We shall see if this acquisition is an exception in Walmart’s business strategy, or if more actions of a similar nature will follow. The latter, as much as the traditional players in this game don’t want to admit, is more likely.

Commercial real estate is definitely heating up, along with the retail industry, which sees a lot of new construction projects and even more planned for the near future.

Under these circumstances, it certainly pays to be well-informed, which means having accurate and up-to-date location analysis, historical traffic data, demographic analysis — everything we call location intelligence. While major players are willing and able to spend big dollars for data scientists and analysts, smaller operators may not have that luxury.

But you want to stay in the game and – ideally – win big. Right?

The way to do it is to partner with recognized experience in location intelligence and traffic data analytics, like Ticon. So, when you need support from an expert on site selection, to help you with growing in the right areas, and in optimal locations, all you need to do is to make one call to Ticon.

We are waiting, and we’ll be happy to see you.