The Past, Present & Future of Retail
Five retail industry icons spoke during an engaging presentation to discuss how retail has evolved in Phoenix from the 1960s through today. Dave Cheatham, President, and Darren Pitts, Executive Vice President of Velocity Retail Group lead the group which spoke to the 100+ attendees.
Panel members were:
- Jack Rasor, Principal, WDP Partners
- Howard Grace, President, W.M. Grace Companies
- Stewart Jean, General Partner, Park West Development
- Bob Kubicek, Founding Partner, RKAA Architects
- Scott Rehorn, Managing Partner, RED Development
Collectively, this group was involved in or was privy to the history surrounding retail development throughout Phoenix. Jack Rasor brought a map from the 1960s which laid out Westcor’s original plan for the regional malls throughout the metro area. While a few of the malls have been repurposed (Los Arcos in Scottsdale), the framework of those plans established our current retail landscape.