revolution – Real Estate Master

Surprise way activewear drove shopping mall revolution

Admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 21:16:16 +0000

Aussies are wearing their gym gear to get coffee and run errands – and new retail data shows the shopping centre landscape is changing fast to keep up.

Activewear brands Adidas, Asics, Elite Eleven, Lorna Jane, LSKD, Lululemon, New Balance, Nike, Puma and Stylerunner comprise more than 50 per cent of the activewear spend market across Australia, according to Colliers data.

A majority of these labels have seen a recent uptick in shopping centre locations nationwide, opening 77 new stores in the past four years.

The data shows this centre growth skews toward more established brands that Aussies have known for decades such as Lorna Jane and Nike. Lorna Jane had a majority of stores across centres in both Sydney (19) and nationwide (85).

Colliers senior executive of retail leasing Ruby Koop said a recent rise in every day activewear stemmed from Covid, when people were working from and spending more time at home.

“Being in casual and comfy clothes became key,” she said.

“Brands have really listened to this and even brands that aren’t traditionally active wear focused will have active wear components to their fashion lines as well.”

Lorna Jane dominated store locations in shopping centres both nationally and in Sydney

According to Ms Koop, activewear stores have also replaced more traditional retail locations.

“If you look at strips like High Street, Armadale (VIC) that was traditionally a bridal precinct, when you look back to the history,” she said.

“Now when you look at it, you have brands like Stylerunner, more of that younger generation, and LSKD opening their new flagship there with further leisure coming into the strip as well, Lululemon and others.”

LSKD Founder and CEO Jason Daniel said people are living more active lifestyles and placing a greater focus on their health and wellbeing.

Mr Daniel said at the same time, activewear has become a much bigger part of everyday life.

“Our community wants products that can move seamlessly between training, running, commuting and everyday life,” he said.

“They aren’t just wearing active wear to the gym anymore.

“They’re wearing it to run errands, go for coffee, travel and just go about their day.”

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LSKD Founder and CEO Jason Daniel said the community wants products that can move seamlessly between training, running, commuting and everyday life

LSKD store opening Armadale, Melbourne that was traditionally a high end and bridal shop precinct

According to Mr Daniel, LSKD has seen strong growth across both physical and online stores over the past few years.

“Our stores give our community the opportunity to experience the product, try things on and connect with the brand in person, while online gives them the convenience to shop whenever and wherever they want,” he said.

LSKD currently has 36 stores globally, with the majority in Australia, and are continuing to grow the store network, including opening the first US store in Austin later this year.

“We’re also continuing to expand our online business into new markets,” Mr Daniel said.

“We see physical retail and online continuing to support each other as we grow.”

Colliers director of property economics and analytics Greg Malempre said there has been a rise of “new players” in the active wear space expanding on the back of demographic trends across the country.

“This has typically been scaling out from specialist sportswear stores,” he said.

“If you look at the numbers, you can see Nike, Puma, Adidas, as a few, have basically opened fewer stores or closed stores over the period of time at these shopping centre locations.

Thematic map of highest activewear spend across Sydney shopping centres. Source: Colliers

“Whereas the other brands, such as Lorna Jane, Lululemon, LSKD and Stylerunner have grown their store networks and evolved over time, basically to try and take advantage of the increasing trend for activewear across Australian markets.”

Mr Malempre said brands like Lorna Jane and Nike have a more established market position.

“People understand their quality, their offer, price points,” he said.

“I would say the newer brands try and find high profile locations and its maybe a bit of a test to see how well they trade before they can fully commit.”

Colliers data capturing activewear labels in shopping centres across Sydney shows Bondi Junction dominated with offerings, followed by Westfield Miranda, Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre and DFO Homebush.

Mr Malpera said the Sydney locations with highest per capita spending typically reflects age and affluence along with the broader trends of their day-to-day activities and active lifestyle.

“That spending really shows up strongly across the eastern suburbs, in the city, lower north shore and northern beaches areas versus, say out in the western suburbs where there still will be spending on the category,” he said.

MORE: ‘No one there’: The ‘Open Ghost Homes’ haunting Sydney

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Revolution next: What ICNY 2026 reveals about real estate’s future

Admin — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 22:00:02 +0000

As tech tools change, Roland Kampmeyer writes, the real estate professional must double down on the things that only humans can do with service and sensitivity.

I start every year by attending Inman Connect in New York. I’ve been attending since 2011. This year, the conference celebrated its 30th anniversary. I’ve personally witnessed roughly half of that history.

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY

What has drawn me to New York for 15 years is the chance to broaden my perspective. The exchange with international colleagues, the direct contact with the tech industry, the impulses from speakers in entirely different fields — all of this helps me recognize trends earlier and see things differently.

Back in 2017, I called the experience “double exhilarating” on these pages — and that hasn’t changed. Inman Connect isn’t an obligation for me; it’s a deliberate way to start the year. And this year, the message was clearer than ever.

AI is no longer a tool. It’s a question of mindset

Brad Inman presented a thesis in his keynote that has stayed with me. He positions artificial intelligence as the fifth industrial revolution — after steam power, electricity, computers and the internet.

Inman’s core message is surprisingly sober: AI amplifies what’s already there. Those who work responsibly and with substance will get better. Those who don’t will become irrelevant faster.

He drew a parallel to the first Inman Connect in 1996, when just 1 percent of all listings were online. Back then, there was the same mix of skepticism and excitement that we’re seeing with AI today. Inman called it “joyful intelligence” — the ability to meet technological change with curiosity rather than fear.

It’s not about whether we use AI. Most of us already do. It’s about the mindset with which we use it. AI doesn’t save broken business models. But it can elevate solid work, genuine market expertise and strong client relationships to a new level. That’s the mindset question our industry needs to ask itself.

From text machine to digital team member

The dominant technology theme of the conference was the next concrete step: agentic AI. Until now, most of us have used AI as a single-purpose tool — give ChatGPT a task, get a result, refine it. This first wave of generative AI remains reactive.

The second wave works fundamentally differently: autonomous, goal-oriented systems that independently execute multi-step tasks, adapt to context and deliver results with minimal human oversight. The pace is staggering:

OpenClaw, a personal AI agent that went from a solo developer’s side project to 195,000 GitHub stars in weeks, was just acquired by OpenAI.
Anthropic’s Claude Code lets developers delegate entire coding workflows from the command line.

These aren’t prototypes, they’re products.

What that means in practice: Instead of generating individual texts, an AI could soon orchestrate an entire acquisition process from data matching to initial outreach to structured follow-up. Several proptechs showcased first platforms at the expo that promise exactly this. The industry in the U.S. is visibly moving from individual AI tools toward AI-powered operating systems for real estate firms.

At KAMPMEYER Immobilien, we’re working on similar approaches: an AI-powered acquisition coach for our advisors, an intelligent database that learns from 30 years of client and transaction history, and AI-driven processes for listing creation and property search.

The challenge isn’t the technology itself but how to integrate it without losing what defines our work at its core: personal, substantive consulting.

When AI searches instead of Google

Jeff Lobb of SparkTank Media presented a startling finding: 37 percent of U.S. consumers already use AI-powered search instead of traditional search engines when looking for services. Instead of typing “Best real estate agent in my area” into Google, clients ask ChatGPT — and get a curated recommendation. If you don’t appear in that answer, you lose potential clients without even knowing it.

AI scans everything digitally available about a company: websites, blog articles, social media profiles, reviews. A single negative phrase can appear more prominently in the AI-generated summary than a hundred positive entries.

Lobb’s warning was unmistakable: Those who don’t adapt risk the same fate as BlackBerry. This shift hasn’t hit every market with the same intensity yet. But the question isn’t whether, but when.

The more AI, the more important the human

Amid the technology enthusiasm, the conference had a clear counterpoint. The marketing leaders of eXp Realty, Keller Williams, and Compass International Holdings agreed: AI is a good starting point, but no substitute for the human advisor. Ryan Serhant put it in a memorable formula: AI should multiply agents, not replace them.

The insight that ran through the entire conference was this: The more powerful the technology becomes, the more valuable what it cannot do becomes. Building trust, understanding complex life situations, striking the right tone in difficult negotiations — these remain core human competencies.

The best real estate professionals of the future won’t just be executors. They’ll be orchestrators who deploy AI strategically to focus on what truly matters: the relationship with the client.

AI doesn’t make the advisor obsolete. It makes the mediocre advisor obsolete. Those with substance will become stronger through AI.

And now?

When I first attended Inman Connect in 2011, David Carr of The New York Times gave a keynote called “When the Future Moves in Next Door.” His core message: The tools change, but the craft and its values remain. Nobody talked about artificial intelligence back then. Fifteen years later, Carr’s message is more relevant than ever.

This transformation is an opportunity for those willing to combine technology with substance. As I wrote in my AI manifesto last fall: doing nothing is not an option, but blindly chasing every technological trend isn’t either. Inman Connect 2026 confirmed that conviction.

Brad Inman’s message for the fifth revolution is simple: Technology rewards those who use it with responsibility and substance. That’s true in New York. That’s true everywhere. And it’s true right now.

Roland Kampmeyer founded KAMPMEYER Immobilien in 1995 and has since built one of his region’s leading residential brokerages with offices in Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf, Germany. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

revolution – Real Estate Master

Surprise way activewear drove shopping mall revolution

Rev­o­lu­tion next: What ICNY 2026 re­veals about real estate’s future

AI is no longer a tool. It’s a ques­tion of mind­set

From text ma­chine to digi­tal team mem­ber